^o 1 

4 V * 



V 1 



V. V o - • 

9 * V*. 4 * ^^Mfn 
A o. 

- * <L^ O 



V' To V* 

**** r ^ "1^^ v ^ **** 



V^> v^> °«? 




c 5 a* 



»b1? 





A* ^ ,0* .iL«..*0. 4> V 




fe. ^ ,. v% > • .A 9 * 



W »1r5^w*. o 



. •cfSStw* o 



i 



EMPEROR OF RUSSIA . 
On. Stone "b'y M. G-auci Printed ly G HuUmaitdel. 



ALEXANDER I 



EMPEROR OF RUSSIA; 



OR, 



A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE, 



AND OF THE MOST IMPORTANT 



EVENTS OF HIS REIGN 



BY H. E. LLOYD, ESQ, 



o'Martf a ^Sonu/ment 6e erected to me v/i 'ifowr Aecwfo? 
cuf it to ifoie> m T/wne. t^/Saa^ maf /ieoA^e A/e$ 

ma, w/cbtcA over Aer^ owict over me* 





LONDON : 

TREUTTEL & WURTZ, TREUTTEL Jun. & RICHTER, 
SOHO SQUARE. 



1826. 




UK 



How!, pit and Shimmer, Priti^er*, 
10, Frith Street, Soho. 



CONTENTS. 



Introductory Anecdotes Page xiii 

CHAPTER I. 
Alexander's education, marriage, disposition. — Conspiracy 
against the Emperor Paul I. — His death. — Accession 
of Alexander.— Another account — Conduct of Paul. — 
Count Pahlen. — Paul's suspicions. — Madame de Ga- 
garin. — Proceedings of the Conspirators. — Death of 
Paul. — Grief of Alexander. — Behaviour of the Em- 
press Maria. — Count Pahlen obliged to leave Peters- 
burg . . .1 

CHAPTER II. 

Alexander's proclamation. — Wish for peace. — Letter to the 
King of England. — Pacific measures towards Eng- 
land. — Peace. — Internal administration. — Secret inqui- 
sition abolished. — Negociations with France. — Georgia 
annexed to the Russian Empire. — Negociations respect- 
ing Germany. — Interview between Alexander and the 
King of Prussia. — Commerce. — Schools, &c, — German 
Colonists. — Relief of the Vassals. — Southern Russia — 
Trade in Asia. — Embassy to Japan. — Universities. — 
Differences with Sweden. — Population. — Republic of 
the Seven Islands 30 



VI 



CHAPTER III. 

Murder of the Duke d'Enghien. — Russian notes presented 
at Ratisbon and Paris — M. d'Oubril leaves Paris. — 
Misunderstanding with France. — Armaments. — Terri- 
torial Division. — Commercial restrictions. — Censorship 
of the Press 55 



CHAPTER IV. 

Armaments. — Restriction on Colonisation. — New Code. — 
The Senate. — Enfranchisement of Vassals. — Treaty 
with England. — Coalition. — War with France. — 
Alexander arrives at Berlin. — Visits the tomb of 
Frederick II. — Arrives at Olmutz. — Battle of Auster- 
litz. — Retreat of the Russian army. — Embarrassment 
of Prussia ....... 72 

CHAPTER V. 

Animosity of Russia towards France. — Offer of support to 
Prussia. — Extraordinary Armaments. — Spirit and orga- 
nisation of the Russian army. — War between Prussia 
and France. — Battle of Jena. — Of Eylau. — Of Fried- 
land. — Meeting of Alexander and Napoleon at Tilsit. — 
Peace. — Humiliation of Prussia. — Extraordinary 
change in the sentiments of Alexander. — His admira- 
tion of Napoleon.^ — Anecdotes . . . .90 



Vli 



CHAPTER VI. 

Observations on the peace of Tilsit. — War on the Persian 
frontiers. — Assassination of Prince Zizianoff. — War 
with Turkey. — Armistice of Slobosia. — Alexander's 
return to Petersburg. — The peace unpopular. — Its dis- 
advantages. — English Expedition against Copen- 
hagen. — Motives of the English government. — Alex- 
ander's remonstrances with England, — His declara- 
tion . . . 103 



CHAPTER VII. 

Internal state of Russia, and its inhabitants.— -Alexander's 
wise and beneficent measures. — Improved legislation. — 
Religious toleration. — Vassallage mitigated. — Manu- 
factures. — Trade. — Revenue. — War with Sweden. — 
Finland conquered by the Russians, and incorporated 
with the Russian empire. — Naval engagements. — Bad 

policy of Napoleon Congress at Erfurth — Anecdotes. 

— Subjects discussed at Erfurth. — War between France 
and Austria. — Defeat of Austria. — Peace. — Oldenburg- 
incorporated with France. — 1Q09 and 1810, internal 
administration of Russia. — War with Turkey and 
Persia. .117 



viii 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1811. — Finance. — Commerce. — Education— Literature- 
Preparations for war. — Apprehensions. — War with 
Turkey. — Secret animosity of Napoleon towards 
Alexander. — Anecdote ..... 140 



CHAPTER IX. 

1812. — Policy of the Russian cabinet — Amount of the 
Russian military force. — Mission of Count Narbonne. 
■ — Alexander leaves St. Petersburg. — Alliance be- 
tween England, Sweden, and Russia — Peace with 
Turkey. — French army enters Russian Poland. — Im- 
politic precipitation of Napoleon. — Consequences. — 
Negotiation.— Advance of the French to Smolensk. — 
Interview of Alexander and Bernadotte. — Anecdote. 
— Kutusoff commander in chief.— Battle of Borodino. — 
Moscow abandoned — taken by the French — burnt. — 
Infatuation of Napoleon. — French leave Moscow. — 
Loss by the fire. — Restoration of the city. — Fatal retreat 
of the French army. — Napoleon's ignorance of Russia. 
— Loss of the French army.— Patriotism of the Rus- 
sians. Capitulation of General York . . 149 



IX 



CHAPTER X. 

Defection of Napoleon's German allies. — Prussians and 
Russians cross the Elbe. — Napoleon retires from 
France to Saxony. — Battles of Liitzen and Bautzen. — 
Armistice. — Austria joins Russia. — Battle of Dresden. 
— Loss of the Austrians. — Moreau killed. — His letter 
to Alexander. — The Emperor's letter to Madame 
Moreau. — Manner of Moreau's death. — Grief of Alex- 
ander. — The Prince Regent sends commissioners to 
carry the insignia of the garter to Alexander. — They 
arrive at Toplitz. — The investiture. — Great battle of 
Leipzig gained by the Allies. — Retreat of the French. — 
Death of Prince Poniatowsky. — Allied Sovereigns 
enter Leipzig. — Battle of Hanau ; General Wrede 
wounded. — Declaration of the Sovereigns issued at 
Francfort. — Allied armies cross the Rhine. — Conven- 
tion of Chaumont. — Hopes of the Royalists. — Battles. 
— -Allied armies march towards Paris. — Maria Louisa 
leaves that city. — Paris capitulates. — Entrance of the 
allied sovereigns into Paris. — Acclamations of the 
people. — Conduct of Alexander. — Anecdotes. — Decla- 
ration of the Sovereigns. — Abdication of Napoleon. — 
Bourbons restored — Armistice — Alexander's affability. 
— Answer to the Senate. —Answer to the Institute. — 



X 



Visit to Mr. Lafitte.— Arrival of Louis 18th in France 
— Alexander visits the Empress Josephine. — Affecting 
interview. — Death of Josephine. — Behaviour of Alex- 
ander. — Visit to Versailles. — Letter to the mayor. — 
Visit to the mint. — Anecdote of Peter the Great. — 
Bon mot of Alexander — Visitto the museum — Madame 
de Stael. — Louis XVIII. enters Paris. — Return of the 
allied armies towards the Rhine.— Rage of the 
French. — Peace. — Delille's address to Alexander. — 
Alexander and the King of Prussia arrive at Boulogne. 
— Embark for England. .... 172 



CHAPTER XI. 

Royal visitors land at Dover. — Rejoicings. — Reception of 
Bliicher. — He arrives in London, and waits on the 
Prince Regent. — Interesting scene. — King of Prussia 
and Emperor of Russia arrive in London. — First 
visit to the Prince Regent. — Splendid court at 
Carlton House. — Chapter of the order of the garter. 
— King of Prussia invested with the order. — Lord 
Erskine introduced to Alexander. — The sovereigns 
visit Oxford. — Grand entertainments at Merchant Tay- 
lor's Hall, and at Guildhall. — Alexander's reply to 
the address of the corporation of Loudon. — His visit 
to St. Paul's. — Review in Hyde Park. — Grand naval 



xi 



review at Portsmouth. — Royal visitors leave England. 
— Alexander in Holland, visits Saardam, and the 
house of Peter I. — Proceeds to Carlsruhe, — meets the 
Empress Elizabeth. — Flattery of Alexander. — He re- 
fuses the title of Blessed, offered by the senate. — 
Forbids all preparations for receiving him at St. Peters- 
burg. — Joy of the citizens. — Change of ministry.—- 
Ukase to the synod, &c. — Recompences to the army. — 
Act of justice. — Congress at Vienna.- — Alexander 
King of Poland. — Return of Napoleon from Elba. — 
Resolution of the congress. — Battle of Waterloo. — 
Alexander at Paris. — Review on the plain of Vertus. — 
Origin of the holy alliance. — Alexander returns to St. 
Petersburg. — Influence of Russia. — Stourdza. — Kot- 
zebue. — Convention with France. — First Polish diet. 
— Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle, . . . 209 



CHAPTER XII. 

Policy of Russia — -Differences with Turkey. — Spain and 
Portugal. — Meeting of the Emperors Alexander and 
Francis. — Negociations with the Porte. — Perseverance 
of Alexander in the system adopted with respect to 
Greece. — Relations with England, China, and Per- 
sia . , . . . . . . 245 



Xll 



CHAPTER XIII. 

General view of the improvements in the internal adminis- 
tration of the Russian empire during the reign of 
Alexander. — Alexander leaves Petersburg. — Arrival 
of the Emperor and the Empress Elizabeth at Tagan- 
rog. — Description of that town. — Alexander visits 
Novo Tscherkask. — Return to Taganrog. — Second 
tour in the Crimea. — Visits Sebastopol. — His wish. 
—Returns to Taganrog. — His death. — Admirable 
conduct of the Empress Elizabeth.— Her letters to the 
Empress Maria. — Diary of the emperor's illness. — 
Occurrences at St, Petersburg. — Proclamation of 
Constantine I. — His renunciation. — Conclusion 266 



Notes 



309 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES 



TO THE 

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER. 



In offering to the public an account of the life 
of the Emperor Alexander, we do not pretend 
to give, in so short a compass, any thing more 
than a sketch of the principal events of his 
reign : but, imperfect as it necessarily is, it 
will, we trust, be found to contain an impartial 
view of them, and to afford a fair estimate of 
his character. 

If ever it is required of a writer to observe 
the maxim of the poet, " nothing extenuate, 
nor aught set down in malice," it is peculiarly 
so in a case like the present, where the original, 

b 



XIV INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

whose portrait is to be delineated, is placed in 
a situation too remote, or too elevated, for the 
artist accurately to discriminate those finer 
traits, those fleeting shades of expression, 
which mark the workings of the inward mind. 
In such a case the first part of the above maxim 
might even admit of some latitude, and the 
" nothing extenuate" be understood to include 
only actions manifestly indefensible, while in- 
dulgence, if not approval, should be extended to 
others, for which au apology may be found in 
the peculiar circumstances, whether of a public 
or private nature, which must have exercised a 
commanding influence over the conduct. Hap- 
pily for the fame of Alexander, his natural dis- 
position led him to mix so much in society, to 
show himself so unreservedly to those who 
approached him, that he afforded the world 
ample opportunity to be convinced, that if Pro- 
vidence had not thought fit, for the benefit of a 
vast empire, to make him the most powerful of 
sovereigns, he would still have been in private 
life, one of the most virtuous and amiable of men.. 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES* XV 

The numerous anecdotes recorded in the 
following pages must contribute, we are per- 
suaded, to give our readers this favourable 
impression of his character ; which would be 
still stronger if we had merely traced, what 
may be called, his private career, without 
any interruption from the overpowering public 
events of his memorable reign. With a view 
therefore to do him entire justice as a man, 
as well as a sovereign, we will here subjoin 
a few miscellaneous anecdotes for which no 
appropriate place was found in the narration, 
or the chronological order of which cannot be 
well ascertained. 

"Alexander, when an infant/' says an able 
writer, " needed not the appendages of royalty 
to render him interesting. Nature had formed 
him in a beautiful mould, and his features were 
expressive of beauty, gentleness, and inno- 
cence." 

From his earliest years he was remarkable 
b 2 



Xvi IXTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

for his respect and attachment to the persons 
entrusted with his education, and for his exem- 
plary conduct towards his mother, the Empress 
Maria, which truly deserved the name of filial 
piety, being in him a feeling next akin to reli- 
gion, a holy flame which burnt with unvarying 
splendour from his childhood to his grave. So 
entirely innate in him was this feeling, that 
he beheld with abhorrence, and when the occa- 
sion served, marked by his serious displeasure 
any violation of the divine precept, " Honour 
thy mother;" and it was but a few months^ be- 
fore his death, that a young prince, who had 
treated his mother with disrespect, received 
orders to reside only in Moscow, under the 
special superintendence of Prince Golyzin, the 
military governor general, and of the guardians 
appointed for him, who were at the same time 
commanded to take the administration of his 
property into their hands. He not only treated 
his tutors with respect while under their care, 
but continued through life, to give them proofs 
of his gratitude and affection. For Count 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. XVU 

Soltikoffhe shewed unabated veneration during 
his life, and in 1818 followed his corpse, on foot 
and bareheaded, to the grave. Of his regard 
for Colonel Laharpe many instances are re 
corded, of which the following may find a place 
here. 

His attachment to Laharpe was rather filial 
than that of a pupil ; his greatest delight was in 
his society, and he would cling round his neck 
in the most affectionate embraces, by which 
frequently his clothes were covered with 
powder. " See, my dear prince," Laharpe 
would say, " what a figure you have made 
yourself." " Oh, never mind it," Alexander 
replied; " no one will blame me for carrying 
away all I can from my dear preceptor." One 
day he went to visit Laharpe, as was his custom, 
alone ; the porter was a new servant, and did 
not know him ; he asked his name, and was 
answered Alexander. The porter then led him 
into the servants' hall, told him his master 
was at his studies, and could not be disturbed 



Xviii INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

for an hour. The servant's homely meal was 
prepared, and the prince was invited to partake 
of it, which he did without affectation. When 
the hour was expired, the porter informed La- 
harpe that a young man of the name of Alexander 
had been waiting some time, and wanted to 
see him. " Shew him in." But what was La- 
harpe's surprise to see his pupil ! He wished to 
apologize ; but Alexander placing his finger on 
his lips, said, " My dear tutor, do not mention 
it ; an hour to you is worth a day to me ; and 
besides, 1 have had a hearty breakfast with 
your servants, which I should have lost, had I 
been admitted when I came." The poor porter's 
feelings may be better imagined than described ; 
but Alexander, laughing, said, " I like you the 
better for it, you are an honest servant, and 
there are an hundred rubles to convince you 
that I think so." 

When he was at Paris in 1814, he paid a 
visit to the wife of M. Laharpe. As she re- 
mained standing, he said to her, " You are 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. xix 

much altered, madam." " Sire," she repli ed 
" I, like others, have suffered from circum- 
stances." — ee You mistake me ; I mean that you 
do not sit down, as you used to do, by your 
husband's pupil, and chat familiarly with him." 

Madame Laharpe speaking to him of the 
enthusiasm with which his virtues and affabi- 
lity inspired the Parisians, he answered, " If I 
possess any qualities that please, to whom do 
I owe them ? — If there had been no Laharpe, 
there would have been no Alexander." 

The liberality of Alexander in relieving dis- 
tress of every kind is so notorious that it can- 
not be necessary to dwell upon it here. Even 
the limits of his vast empire seemed too narrow 
for his inexhaustible munificence. The wretched 
of all countries, and of all religions, found in 
him a father and a friend. The large sums 
contributed by him to relieve the distresses of 
those who suffered by the dreadful inundations 
in Germany and Holland, in the spring of 1825, 



XX INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

are recent proofs of this disposition. But if 
the affording of pecuniary relief may appear an 
equivocal proof of humanity in the absolute 
sovereign of a great empire, let us turn to his 
behaviour after the dreadful inundation at St. 
Petersburg, on the 19th November, 1824. That 
he should attempt to repair the damages caused 
by it, might be expected from a naturally hu- 
mane and generous prince ; but Alexander was 
not content with this ; he went day by day, 
alone, and in a boat, to the poorest and most 
obscure suburbs of the capital; he examined 
with his own eyes the extent of the damage 
that had been done; he distributed with his 
own hands the relief immediately necessary, 
and was rewarded by seeing the victims of this 
scourge, the indigent who had lost their little 
all, prefer the consoling words of their bene- 
factor to the gifts of his munificence, and think 
themselves indemnified for their losses by the 
presence of their sovereign. 

The following circumstance, which occurred 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. XXi 

in 1807, has become well known in England, 
but still must not be omitted in a sketch which 
is designed to illustrate Alexander's private 
character. 

The emperor in one of his journeys through 
Poland being considerably in advance of his 
attendants, saw several persons assembled on 
the banks of the little river Wilia, and approach- 
ing the spot, found that they had just dragged 
out of the water a peasant who appeared to be 
lifeless. He instantly alighted, had the man 
laid on the side of the bank, and immediately 
proceeded to strip him, and to rub his temples, 
wrists, &c. The emperor was thus employed 
when his suite joined him, whose exertions were 
immediately added to those of the emperor. Dr. 
Wylie, his majesty's physician, attempted to 
bleed the patient, but in vain ; and after three 
hours fruitless attempts to recover him, the 
doctor declared that it was useless to proceed 
any further. The emperor, much chagrined 
and fatigued with the continued exertions, en- 



XXil INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

treated Dr. Wylie to persevere, and to make a 
fresh attempt to bleed him. The doctor, though 
he had not the slightest hope of being success- 
ful, proceeded to obey the positive injunctions 
of his imperial master, who, with Prince Wol- 
konsky and Count Lieven (now ambassador at 
the British court), made a last effort at rubbing, 
&c. At length, the emperor had the inexpres- 
sible satisfaction of seeing the blood make its 
appearance, while the poor peasant uttered a 
feeble groan. The emotions of Alexander 
at this moment could not be described ; and 
in the plenitude of his joy, he exclaimed, 
"Good God! this is the brightest day of my 
life ;" while tears involuntarily stole down his 
cheek. Their exertions were now redoubled ; 
the emperor tore his handkerchief, and bound 
the arm of the patient, nor did he leave him 
until he was quite recovered. He then had 
him conveyed to a place where proper care 
could be taken of him, ordered him a consider- 
able present, and afterwards provided for him 
and his family. 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. Xxiii 

This fact coming to the knowledge of the 
Royal Humane Society of London, it was re- 
solved by the board to send a gold medal to 
the emperor, with a suitable address. Alex- 
ander seems to have been much gratified at 
this tribute, and wrote to the president the 
following handsome answer :— 

" Mr. President, 
" The Marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale, 
his Britannic Majesty's ambassador at my court, 
has delivered to me the highly flattering marks 
of the approbation given by your Society to an 
action which has such feeble claims to notice, 
in annals destined to preserve the memory of 
important services rendered to mankind. 

" Without, however, considering this action, 
so natural in itself, as entitling me to the dis- 
tinction it has procured me ; I accept it with 
pleasure and gratitude, being unwilling to deny 
myself the satisfaction of belonging to a Society, 
the object and the labours of which are so 



XXiv INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

highly interesting to the cause of humanity, 
and so congenial to the dearest emotions of my 
own breast. 

" I beg you will express from me to your 
Society, the sincere esteem and interest I bear 
towards it ; and be assured of the sentiments 
with which 

" I am, 

" Mr. President, 

" Your well-affected, 

" Alexander." 

If Alexander was himself forward in the 
practice of humanity, he was ever ready to 
recompense it in others, of which the following 
is an instance : — 

A young officer of the police, who, at the 
setting in of the winter, was stationed on the 
quay of the Neva, to prevent any one from 
attempting the passage of the river till it was 
sufficiently frozen, discovered a person on the 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. XXV 

ice, who had escaped the notice of the guard, 
on the opposite side. Apprehensive of his 
danger, he called to him to return. The other, 
heedless of his entreaties and his threats, kept 
advancing, until, suddenly, the ice gave way 
under his feet, and he sunk. The guard called 
for assistance ; but, perceiving that none of the 
spectators attempted to succour the unhappy 
man, he threw off his coat and plunged in, re- 
gardless of his own danger, and, by his strength 
and courage, brought the man to the shore, 
who, two minutes later, must have lost his life. 
The Emperor Alexander, who was riding, ar- 
rived on the spot at this interesting moment. 
He addressed the officer in the most flattering 
terms, and, giving him a ring from his finger, 
promoted him to a station greatly superior to 
that which he had before filled. 

A taste for the simple beauties of nature is 
generally considered as a sure indication of an 
unsophisticated mind, and Alexander possessed 
this taste in a remarkable degree. In his fre- 



XXVi INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

quent journies, which extended to most of the 
countries of the European continent, he never 
failed to notice any remarkable spot that he 
happened to meet with; but the simple, the 
soothing, and the amiable scenes of nature 
were the most congenial to his soul, and the 
view from Richmond Hill was, in his opinion, 
the most lovely that he had ever beheld. It 
was with this same feeling that he was often 
heard to say, that " an English country gen- 
tleman was, in his opinion, the man above all 
others, within whose reach heaven has placed 
the means of making life happy." 

Of his love of justice, the following is re- 
lated : — 

It once happened, at the very moment 
when the emperor had given the word of com- 
mand, and the guard on the parade was just 
on the point of paying him the usual military 
honours, that a fellow approached him in ragged 
garments, with his hair in disorder, and a look of 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. XXVii 

wildness, and gave him a slap on the shoulder. 
The monarch, who was standing at the time 
with his face to the military front, turned round 
instantly, and beholding the wretched object 
before him, started back at the sight ; and then 
enquired, with a look of astonishment, what he 
wanted ? " I have something to say to you, 
Alexander Pawlowitsch," said the stranger, in 
the Russian language. " Say on then," said 
the emperor, with a smile of encouragement, 
clapping him on the shoulder. A long solemn 
pause followed ; the military guard stood still ; 
and none ventured, either by word or motion, 
to disturb the emperor in this singular inter- 
view. The Grand Duke Constantine alone, 
whose attention had been excited by this un- 
usual interruption, advanced somewhat nearer 
to his brother. The stranger then related, that 
he had been a captain in the Russian service, 
and had been present at the campaigns, both in 
Italy and Switzerland ; but that he had been 
persecuted by his commanding officer, and so 
misrepresented to Suwarrow, that the latter 



XXviii INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

had turned him out of the army, without 
money and without friends, in a foreign coun- 
try. He had afterwards served as a private 
soldier in the Russian army ; and being se- 
verely wounded at Zurich (and here he pulled 
his rags asunder, and shewed several gun-shot 
wounds), he had closed his campaign in a French 
prison. He had now begged all the way to 
Petersburg, to apply to the emperor himself 
for justice, and to entreat an enquiry into the 
reason why he had been degraded from his 
rank in the army. The emperor listened with 
great patience, and then asked, in a significant 
tone, " If there was no exaggeration in the story 
he had told ?" " Let me die under the knout/' 
said the officer, " if I shall be found to have 
uttered one word of falsehood." The emperor 
then beckoned to his brother, and charged him 
to conduct the stranger to the palace, while he 
turned round to the expecting crowd. The 
commanding officer, who had behaved so harsh- 
ly, though of a good family, and a prince in 
rank, was very severely reprimanded; while 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. Xxix 

the brave warrior, whom he had unjustly per- 
secuted, was reinstated in his former post ; and 
besides, had a considerable present from the 
emperor. 

The affability of Alexander has been much 
and justly celebrated ; for it was not that 
formal condescension which only seems to 
bend, but pure unaffected good nature, the 
genuine offspring of an amiable disposition. 
No one ever understood better than he did, 
how to confer a favour in a graceful manner ; 
and to double the value of a gift, by the manner 
in which it was bestowed. 

When he announced to the brave Kutusoff, 
his elevation to the rank of Prince of Smo- 
lensko, for his services during the campaign of 
1812, against the French, he sent with his let- 
ter a most valuable jewel, taken from the im- 
perial crown, as a tribute to the valour of a 
man, by whom it had been so ably defended. 
He directed the vacancy thus occasioned to be 



XXX INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

filled up with a small gold plate, on which was 
inscribed the name of Kutusoff. 



Dining one day at St. Denis, with a Polish 
general, Prince P. Count Langeron was one 
of the company. About the middle of the 
entertainment, the emperor said to the latter, 
" I have paid a second visit to Mont-martre, 
where I found a parcel addressed to you/' 
" Sire," replied the count, " I have lost no- 
thing." " Oh !" said the emperor, taking a 
parcel from his pocket, " I am not mistaken — 
see here." Count Langeron opened it, and 
found the insignia of one of the Russian orders. 

The following are pleasing instances of his 
equanimity, condescension, and good nature : 

A young woman, of German extraction, once 
waited for the emperor on the stairs, by which 
he was accustomed to go down to the parade. 
When the monarch appeared, she met him on 
the steps with these words: " Please your 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. XXXi 

majesty, I have something to say to you." 
" What is it?" asked the emperor, and stood 
still, with all his attendants. <tf I have an 
opportunity of being married, but I have no 
fortune ; if you would graciously please to give 
me a dowry?" " Ah! my girl," replied the 
monarch, " were I to give dowries to all the 
young women in Petersburg, where do you 
think I should find money." The girl, however, 
received by his order a present of fifty rubles. 

The hackney-coachmen in St. Petersburg do 
not much like to drive officers, and seldom let 
them get out without their having paid them be- 
fore hand, or leaving something in pledge. They 
do not object to letting other persons get 
out whenever they choose, and will even wait 
hours for them. Alexander, who was generally 
dressed in a very plain uniform and a grey 
mantle, was walking one day on the English 
quay, when suddenly it began to rain very fast, 
and he would not step into a house. He ac- 
cordingly seated himself in the first Droschke 

c 2 



XXxii INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

he found, and ordered the coachman to drive 
to the Winter Palace. As he passed by the 
Senate House, the guard was called under 
arms, and the drums beat. The coachman 
looked, and said he supposed the emperor was 
riding by the Guard House. " You will see him 
very soon," replied Alexander. 

They at last arrived at the Winter Palace, and 
Alexander, who had no money about him, 
ordered him to stop till he sent his fare down. 
" No," replied he, " you must leave me some- 
thing in pledge ; the officers have so many 
times deceived me. So you must leave me 
your mantle." Alexander acquiesced, and left 
it with him. He directly sent down one of his 
footmen with five and twenty rubles, to give 
them to the coachman, to say that he had 
driven the emperor, and to bring him the 
mantle. The footman did so ; when instead 
of the coachman's being glad at the honour 
and the present, he laughed, and said : " Do 
you think that I am so stupid ? the mantle is 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 



xxxiii 



worth more than twenty-five rubles; who 
knows what you mean ? perhaps you want to 
steal it ; no that w'ont do, and unless the 
gentleman, whom I have driven comes himself, 
I shall not part with it." Alexander had almost 
been obliged to go down himself, had not his 
chief coachman happened to come by, who con- 
firmed what the footman had said. The poor 
coachman was now almost out of his wits for joy. 

The High Chamberlain N** received of the 
Emperor Alexander a most beautiful star of 
the order of St. Andrew, set round with dia- 
monds, which was valued at 30,000 rubles. 
Being in pecuniary distress, he pawned it ; soon 
after this there was a grand entertainment at 
court, where N** could not appear without this 
star. What embarrassment ! money was wanted, 
and the pawnbroker, an inexorable man, would 
not part with the star for a quarter of an hour, 
unless it were properly redeemed. Now there 
was nobody that could help him out of this 
dilemma, but the emperor's groom of the bed- 



XXXIV INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. 

chamber, who had in his possession two beautiful 
diamond stars, belonging to the emperor, one 
of which was but lately finished, and had cost 
60,000 rubles. The high chamberlain accord- 
ingly had recourse to him, and after many pro- 
testations, the gentleman was persuaded by 
incessant entreaty, and promises of returning 
it safe to him again after the entertainment, to 
entrust it to him. N** accordingly made his 
appearance at court with this star. Alexan- 
der soon perceived in the four large diamonds 
at the corners of the star, a great likeness with 
his own new star. He fixed his eyes several 
times on N** 5 and at last said, " I am very 
much astonished to find you have a star which 
has a great likeness with one I have just re- 
ceived from the jeweller." N** quite embar- 
rassed, replied only by unmeaning compliments 
and bows. The emperor, more and more struck 
with the great resemblance, at last said to him, 
" I do not know what to say, but I must tell 
you plainly, that I almost believe that it is my 
star, the likeness is so very remarkable. ,, N** 



INTRODUCTORY ANECDOTES. XXXV 

at last humbly confessed how it happened, and 
offered to undergo any punishment, but only 
begged that he would have mercy upon the 
poor gentleman of the bed-chamber, who had 
suffered himself to be persuaded. " Never 
mind," replied the generous Alexander, " the 
crime is not so great that I cannot forgive it. 
But I cannot myself wear it any more. I must 
therefore make you a present of it, on condition 
that I shall in future be safe from such appro- 
priations." 

These few traits of the private character of 
Alexander will suffice to corroborate the asser- 
tion we made at the beginning of this introduc- 
tion, that, as a private individual he would have 
been one of the most virtuous and amiable of 
men. 

" No farther seek his merits to disclose, 
Nor draw his frailties from their dread abode 
(There they alike in trembling hope repose,) 
The bosom of his father and his God/' 



ALEXANDER I. 

EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

Alexander I. Pawlowitsch, 1 born the 23d 
of December, 1777, Emperor and Autocrat 2 of 
all the Russias, 3 succeeded his father, Paul I. 
24th March, 1801. His father took no part in 
his education, which was directed by his grand- 
mother, the Empress Catherine II. who gave 
him Colonel La Harpe, a native of Geneva, for 
his tutor. His mother, Maria, daughter of 
Duke Eugene, of Wurtemberg, has invariably- 
possessed his love and confidence. 

La Harpe was in some respects the same to 



2 CHAPTER I, 

Alexander, that Le Fort, likewise a Genevois, 
had been to Peter the Great, a hundred years 
before. He brought him up, without political 
or religious prejudices, in the wiser principles 
of an enlightened age. Mildness and philan- 
thropy ennobled the heart of the Northern Te- 
lemachus. His chief tutor, Count Nicholas 
Soltikow, received directions from Catherine, 
according to which the young grand duke was 
to receive no lessons in poetry or music, be- 
cause too much time must be spent on them 
to acquire any proficiency. Professor Kraft 
instructed the prince in experimental philoso- 
phy, and Professor Pallas, for a short time, in 
botany. 

On the 9th of October, 1793, at the early 
age of not quite sixteen, he married the Prin- 
cess Louisa Maria Augusta, of Baden, who, on 
adopting the Greek religion, as required of 
foreign princesses marrying into the Imperial 
family of Russia, received the name of Eliza- 
beth Alexiewna, by whom he has left no issue. 



CHAPTER I. 3 

The prince, from his tender years, had mani- 
fested all the germs of those virtues and great 
qualities by which he has been so eminently 
distinguished. Though he was supposed by 
many persons not to be gifted with very supe- 
rior abilities, there can be little doubt that, in 
the latter part of the life of the Emperor Paul, 
the people looked forward with hope, and 
perhaps with impatience, to the reign of his 
successor ; and the consciousness of this fact, 
probably encouraged those who had formed the 
plan of dethroning Paul, and proclaiming the 
Grand Duke Alexander. It appears, indeed, 
that ever since September, 1800, several of the 
favorites of Catharine, whom Paul, at the be- 
ginning of his government, had banished and 
treated with severity, but had afterwards, by 
various means, contrived to gain his favor, had 
been plotting against him. Of all the difficul- 
ties that stood in the way of the execution of 
this project, the greatest was the aversion of 
the young prince, to sanction any attempt 
against his father's authority. They endea- 

b 2 



4 



CHAPTER I. 



voured, therefore, to make the emperor more 
suspicious and more violent; by artful in- 
sinuations they at length induced Paul to 
look upon his sons as enemies and traitors ; 
and it is nearly certain that it was determined 
to send the Grand Dukes Alexander and Con- 
stantine to some fortress. The conspirators 
took advantage of this circumstance, painted 
the greatness of their personal danger, and, at 
length, an undertaking, founded on the law of 
self-preservation, appeared to both of them to- 
be necessary. The plan was to arrest the em- 
peror, and declare him insane, and for Alexander 
to assume the government, but with the ex- 
press assurance that he would resign all his rights 
and powers to his beloved father, as soon as it 
should please Divine Providence to restore him 
to health and reason. Count Pahlen, general 
of cavalry, had drawn up the ukases, and sta- 
tioned troops where they might be necessary ; 
yet entire confidence was not placed in him, and 
Valerius Subow, master-general of the ordnance, 
one of the twenty-one conspirators, remained 



CHAPTER I. 5 

constantly with him, on the evening of the 23d 
of March. The remaining twenty, at the head 
of whom was Prince Plato Subow, the last 
favorite of Catherine II. penetrated, by a 
private staircase, at eleven o'clock at night, 
into the Michailow palace. The hussar on 
duty, would not admit them, and cried out 
" treason!" but he was immediately cut down. 
Paul, awakened by the noise, ran towards the 
door at which the conspirators were attempting 
to enter. When he saw the danger, he hastily 
took up his sword, and asked Prince Subow 
what he wanted. The prince replied, that 
Paul Petrowitsch was a madman, and inca- 
pable of governing. Paul rushed upon the 
prince, sword in hand; but the unfortunate 
monarch was soon overpowered and thrown on 
the ground; and, to put an end to his cries, 
Prince Subow and his brother Nicholas, Ben- 
ningsen, and Tschitscherin, strangled him with 
the sash of Amalgarof, his aid-de-camp. 

The two grand dukes, when they were in- 



6 CHAPTER I. 

formed of the death of their father, were beside 
themselves with horror. Alexander refused a 
crown, of which his father had been so cruelly 
deprived. But they persuaded him that urgent 
necessity, together with the fury of his father, 
had produced this unhappy result : they re- 
presented to him, that he owed himself to the 
state ; and he accordingly assumed the govern- 
ment on the 24th of March, 1801. 

Such, according to accounts published in 
Germany, was the unhappy termination of the 
life of the Emperor Paul I. That the precise 
truth will ever be known is highly improbable ; 
but the great interest of the subject induces us 
to subjoin the following more circumstantial 
statement, which agrees in some leading parti- 
culars with the preceding, though it differs in 
others. 

When Paul I. succeeded Catherine II. the first 
thought of all those who were acquainted with 
the Russian empire, and the personal qualities 



CHAPTER I. 7 

of the new czar, was, that that monarch would 
not long retain the reins of government. Natu- 
rally of an impetuous temper, which might have 
been checked by a more careful education, 
Paul had suffered under the severe guardianship 
of a suspicious mother : he fancied his wife enter- 
tained designs similar to those which Catherine 
II. had carried into effect. He had continually 
before his eyes the dangers to which he imagined 
himself exposed by the general affection of the 
people for Maria Fedeorowna. He looked upon 
his children only as successors, ready to dispute 
the throne with him. When he peaceably 
ascended the throne which his mother con- 
stantly refused to give up to him, Paul had at 
first no other partisans than the very small 
number of persons discontented with the late 
government. However, some wise ordinances, 
reiterated proofs of great regard for justice, 
reasonable views, a conduct generally deserving 
of praise, and some traits which seemed to 
indicate a noble and elevated soul, soon acquired 
the new emperor the attachment of the Russians 



8 CHAPTER I. 

and the esteem of foreign nations. But this 
prince, who under the sway of a mother, jealous 
of her authority, had borne the yoke with 
impatience, as soon as he felt himself at liberty 
to indulge his own inclinations, which had 
hitherto been restrained, suffered them to take 
a wrong direction. Absolute power was in his 
hands only the faculty of giving way to the 
extravagances of his caprices, which he dis- 
played in an affected contempt for all the ordi- 
nary usages of society. 

All hopes of bringing the emperor to more 
reasonable sentiments, had long been given up. 
Count Pahlen, who shared with him the exer- 
cise of unlimited power, had an opportunity 
to be convinced of the necessity of opposing a 
barrier to the extravagances of a will which 
manifested itself by acts of violence. 

This nobleman, who was at the head of the 
foreign department of the police and of the 
government of St. Petersburg, took at length 



CHAPTER I. 9 

the resolution of conferring with the Grand 
Duke Alexander on the means of preventing the 
fatal consequences, which seemed inevitable. 
He explained to this prince all the misfortunes, 
both at home and abroad, which might ensue 
from such a state of affairs. He warned him to 
think of a change, the dangers of which would 
be completely met by the means that could be 
commanded. 

Count Pahlen being acquainted, in conse- 
quence of the offices which he held, with all that 
was passing, was able to act immediately, and 
proposed to do so without delay. The grand 
duke is said to have replied to these first over- 
tures, that he could not deny the impropriety 
of the emperor's conduct, but that he was his 
father, and that he, as his son, could never 
resolve to deprive him of his supreme power, 
whatever evil might result from his continuing 
to exercise it. 

Some months after this, the disorder in the 

r 



10 



CHAPTER I, 



government constantly increasing, Count Pah- 
len again spoke to the grand duke. It seems 
that he found the prince less averse on this 
occasion than on the preceding, to the ideas 
which he submitted to his consideration; but 
still disinclined, out of respect to his father, to 
every attempt which might affect the power of 
the sovereign. 

However, more than twenty-six persons hav- 
ing disappeared in the beginning of 1801, 
Count Pahlen repeated his proposals more 
urgently. The grand duke, pressed by these 
circumstances, at last consented, though with re- 
gret, and after having received a formal promise, 
that the life of the emperor should be saved, 
and that they would be satisfied with making 
him prisoner, obtaining from him an act of 
abdication, and conveying him under a strong 
escort, to the citadel of St. Petersburg. 

An unforeseen event hastened the execution 
of the project. Count Pahlen was informed 



CHAPTER I. 1] 

that Paul, who, for some time past appeared to 
have conceived suspicions, had, contrary to his 
custom, signed a passport himself, which was 
properly the business of Count Pahlen only. 
He caused the bearer of it to be arrested, as if 
by mistake, and probably made himself ac- 
quainted with the despatches. It was after- 
wards known, that the object of these, was to 
recal to St. Petersburg two persons whom the 
emperor had been obliged to banish, on account 
of the cruelty which they had shown in the 
execution of his orders. 

According to all appearances, these two 
individuals, named Lindner and Araktchew, the 
first, military governor of St. Petersburg, and 
the other, governor of a fortress, were to be 
reinstated in their functions. The emperor 
intended to employ them to remove his family ; 
to put into prison the empress and her two 
sons; and to get rid of all those of whom he had 
conceived any suspicions. 



12 CHAPTER I. 

Count Pahlen, with the passport taken from 
the courier, waited upon Paul, and represented 
to him, that some persons had doubtless 
attempted to take him by surprise, in laying 
before him for his signature, a paper, which it 
was his office exclusively to deliver on his 
own responsibility. 

The emperor, embarrassed, answered that he 
had reasons for signing the passport. " Then I 
will immediately return it to the courier," 
replied Count Pahlen. It may be easily 
imagined that Pahlen, at the same time that he 
obeyed his masters orders, felt more than ever 
the necessity of anticipating him, by a prompt 
execution of the measures proposed, 

"You recollect what happened in 1762?" 
said the emperor to his minister a few days 
before. — " Yes, sire, I was then sergeant in the 
guards." — '"'Count Pahlen, I am not disinclined 
to believe, that certain persons would be dis- 
posed to renew the scenes that then took 



CHAPTER I 13 

place"— 4 s It is possible, sire", said Pahlen, 
that some persons may have conceived such a 
design, but it would not be so easy to execute it 
now, as it was then ; the army was not then, as 
#t, present in the hands of the prince ; the police 
was not so vigilant ; lastly, your father had not 
been crowned, as you have." . The emperor 
seemed to assent to these observations, and thus 
finished a conversation, in which Pahlen shewed 
presence of mind, composure, and boldness. 

The emperor's suspicions increased every 
day. One evening he repeated several times, 
apparently in a very bad humour, to Madame 
de Gagarin, in whose house he was : " I see it 
is time to strike my great blow." He spoke in 
the same manner to his master of the horse, 
Kutwjsow, adding, " After that, we shall live 
like two brothers." Thi$ great blow was, to 
imprison the empress at Kolmagon, a frightful 
abode, eighty wersts from Archangel, where the 
unfortunate family of Ulrick of Brunswick had 
been confined for many years. Schliisselburg 




14 CHAPTER T. 

was to be the prison of the Grand Duke Alex- 
ander; the fortress of St. Petersburg was des- 
tined for Prince Constantine ; Pahlen and 
several others were to have perished on the 
scaffold. ' 

Madame de Gagarin, struck with the sinister 
tone of the emperor, had the simplicity to 
say — "I can't imagine what he means by the 
great blow he intends to strike." These various 
expressions were reported to Count Pahlen, 
who informed the grand duke of them. 

The prince, pressed by the danger, agreed to 
every thing, with the only condition, that the 
life of his father should be saved. In spite of 
the difficulty of giving positive assurances on 
this subject, Pahlen, however, promised at all 
events, the life of Paul should not be threatened. 
The project was to be carried into execution on 
the 22nd of March ; but the Grand Duke insisted 
that it should be deferred till the next day, 
because, on that day the guard of the palace 



CHAPTER I. 15 

was to be confided to the battalion of Semo- 
nowski, which the Grand Duke Constantine 
commanded in person, and which was devoted 
to him. Pahlen yielded to the desire of the 
prince, 

The palace of Michailow, built by Paul on 
the site of the old summer palace, is a massy 
edifice, in a bad style, and surrounded with 
bastions. It was in vain that the emperor 
daily added to the fortifications, to secure him- 
self against the revenge of those whom he had 
offended. Pahlen, as well as the other leaders 
of the conspiracy, was acquainted with every 
part of it. Some hours before the execution of 
the plot, Count Pahlen augmented the number of 
the conspirators by adding to them some young 
men of family, who, on that day, had been 
degraded, and beaten in a most cruel manner, 
for faults which scarcely merited a repri- 
mand. Pahlen himself released them from 
prison, and took them to supper at General 
Talizin's, colonel of the Presbaschewskoi regi- 



16 CHAPTER I. 

merit of guards, who, as well as General 
Depreradowitsch, colonel of the Semonowski 
regiment, had drawn into the conspiracy almost 
all the officers; they did not yet venture to 
confide in the soldiers, but they reckoned upon 
their obedience, 

Plato Subow, the last favorite of Catherine 
II. and General Benningsen were present at 
this entertainment. They placed themselves at 
the head of one part of the conspirators, and 
Pahlen commanded the other ; the two troops 
together amounted to about sixty persons, most 
of whom were inflamed with wine. Subow and 
Benningsen were preceded by the aid-de-camp 
Arkamakow, who daily made reports to the 
emperor. This officer conducted them by a 
staircase, which led directly to an anti-chamber, 
where two hussars of the Imperial Guard, and 
two valets slept. In passing through the gal- 
lery to which this door opened they were 
stopped by a sentinel, who cried, "Who goes 
there?" Benningsen replied, "Silence! you see 



CHAPTER I. 17 

where we are going." The soldier understand- 
ing what was going forward, knit his brows, 
crying, " Patrol, pass P' in order that if the 
emperor had heard the noise, he might believe 
that it was made by the patrol. After this, 
Arkamakow advanced rapidly and knocked 
softly at the valet de chambre's door ; the latter, 
without opening, demanded his business. — "I 
come to make my report." — " Are you mad? it 
is midnight." — "What do you say? it is six 
o'clock in the morning : open the door quick, or 
you will make the emperor very angry with me." 
The valet at last opened the door, but seeing 
seven or eight persons enter the chamber sword 
in hand, he ran to hide himself in a corner. 
One of the hussars, who had more courage, 
attempted to resist, but was immediately cut 
down with a sabre ; the other disappeared. 

In this manner Benningsen and Subow pene- 
trated to the emperor's chamber. Subow, not 
seeing the prince in his bed, cried, "Good God ! 
he has escaped." Benningsen more composed, 

c 



18 CHAPTER I. 

having made a careful search, discovered the 
emperor behind a screen. Having approached 
the prince, he saluted him with his sword, and 
announced to him that he was a prisoner, by 
order of the Emperor Alexander ; that his life 
would be respected, but that it was requisite 
for his safety, that he should make no resistance. 
Paul made no answer. By the glimmering of 
a night-lamp, the confusion and terror which 
were painted at the same time in his coun- 
tenance, were easily perceived. Benningsen, 
without loss of time, examined the whole room ; 
one door led to the apartments of the empress : 
a second, which was that of the wardrobe, 
afforded no farther issue : two others belonged 
to recesses, which contained the colours of the 
regiments of the garrison, as also a great num- 
ber of swords belonging to officers, who were 
put under arrest. While Benningsen was 
shutting these doors, and putting the keys into 
his pocket ; Subow repeated in Russian to the 
emperor, " Sire, you are a prisoner by order of 
the Emperor Alexander." — " How ! a prisoner !" 



CHAPTER I. 19 

replied the Emperor. A moment afterwards, 
he added, ' 'What have 1 done to you ?" — " For 
these four years past you have tortured us," 
replied one of the conspirators. 

The prince was in his night- cap; he had only 
thrown over him a flannel jacket, he was stand- 
ing without shoes or stockings before the con- 
spirators, who had their hats on, and their 
swords in their hands. 

If Paul had retained his presence of mind, 
he might have escaped, either by means of a 
trap door which opened under his bed, or by 
the apartments of the empress; but fear had 
entirely disconcerted him, and at the first noise, 
he had thrown himself under the bed without 
taking any resolution; perhaps he did not ven- 
ture to take refuge in the apartments of the 
empress, thinking that a conspiracy against 
him could not have been contrived without the 

consent and encouragement of a princess, whom 

c 2 



20 CHAPTER I. 

he knew to be beloved by the people, as much 
as he was disliked. 

At the moment when they were securing the 
emperor, some noise being heard, Subow 
hastened to the Grand Duke Alexander. The 
apartments of this prince were under those of 
his father. He had with him only his brother 
Constantine and the two grand duchesses, their 
wives; Constantine had not been initiated in the 
secret till the same evening ; though he did not 
love the emperor, it was feared that he might 
be guilty of some indiscretion. These four per- 
sons waited with the greatest anxiety for the 
issue of the affair : the arrival of Subow did 
not a little contribute to augment their uneasi- 
ness. Meantime Benningsen, who had remained 
in the emperors chamber, with a small number 
of the conspirators, was greatly embarrassed ; 
he would have been more so, if Paul had taken 
his sword to defend himself ; but this unfortu- 
nate prince did not utter a single word, and 
remained motionless. 



CHAPTER I. 21 

The emperor was found in this state of stu- 
por by some of the conspirators, who, in their 
intoxication, had missed their way, and tumul- 
tously entered the chamber. 

Prince Tatchwill, major-general of artillery, 
who had been for some time out of service, first 
entered at the head of his companions ; he 
furiously attacked the emperor, and throwing 
him on the ground, overturned at the same 
time the screen and the lamp : the rest of the 
scene passed in darkness. Benningsen thinking 
that Paul wished to fly, or defend himself, 
cried: " For God's sake, sire, do not attempt to 
escape, your life is at stake ; you will be killed 
if you make the least resistance." During this 
time Prince Tatchwill, Gardanow, adjutant of 
the horse guards, Sartarinow, colonel of artil- 
lery, who had been long discharged from active 
service ; Prince Wereinskoi and Seriatin, officer 
of the guards, also out of active service, were 
contending with the emperor : he at first suc- 
ceeded in rising from the ground, but he was 



22 CHAPTER I. 

thrown down again, and wounded his side and 
his cheek, by falling against a marble table. 
General Benningsen was the only one who 
avoided taking an active part; he repeatedly 
urged Paul not to defend himself. He had 
scarcely had time to leave the chamber a 
moment to fetch a light, when on his return he 
perceived Paul lying on the ground, strangled 
with an officer's sash. Paul had made but a 
slight resistance, he had only put his hand 
between his neck and the sash, and exclaimed 
in French, " Gentlemen, for Heaven's sake, 
spare me! leave me time to pray to God." 
These were his last words. 

Benningsen seeing that Paul shewed no signs 
of life, caused the corpse to be laid upon a bed, 
and his head covered. Malkow, captain of the 
guard, having entered with thirty men, received 
orders to secure all the avenues leading to the 
chamber of the late emperor, and not to permit 
any person to enter. After these measures had 
been taken, Benningsen hastened to inform the 



i 



CHAPTER I. 23 

grand duke at what price he ascended the 
throne. That Prince indulged in all the expres- 
sions of the most profound affliction. When 
Pahlen, who had been commissioned to guard 
the grand staircase, and to cut off the retreat of 
Paul in case of need, learnt that the Prince had 
already perished, he repaired to the new empe- 
ror. He arrived at the moment when the latter, 
was exclaiming, quite beside himself, " People 
will say that I am the assassin of my father ; they 
promised me not touch his life. I am the most 
unfortunate man in the world." Pahlen, more 
intent to secure the throne to the living emperor, 
than to shed tears for him who was dead, said 
to Alexander, " Sire, before all things, please 
to recollect that an emperor cannot take pos- 
session of the authority, without the participa- 
tion of the people. One moment of weakness 
may have the most fatal consequences; you 
must not lose an instant in getting yourself 
acknowledged by the army." — "And what will 
become of my mother." — " Sire," replied Pah- 
len. "I will immediately go to her majesty." 
In fact he immediately proceeded to the apart- 



24 CHAPTER I. 

merits of the empress. He requested the 
Countess of Lieven, one of the principal ladies 
of her majesty's household, to acquaint her 
with what had just happened. It is a remark- 
able fact that the scenes of horror which had 
taken place so near the apartments of that 
princess, had not interrupted her sleep. Waked 
by the Countess of Lieven, she thought at first 
that the countess came to prepare her for the news 
of the death of her daughter, the Princess Pala- 
tine of Hungary. "No, Madam," replied the 
countess, " your majesty must survive a greater 
misfortune; the emperor has just died in a fit of 
apoplexy."' — " No, no,'' exclaimed the empress, 
u he has been assassinated." — "I must then 
confess it to you" replied the countess. The 
empress then hastily dressed herself and rushed 
towards the chamber of Paul. In the saloon 
between her apartments and those of the empe- 
ror, she found Pettarozkoi, the lieutenant of the 
guards of Semonowski, who commanded the 
thirty men, whom General Dreperadowitsch had 
stationed there. 



CHAPTER I. 25 

Pettarozkoi declared to the empress that 
she could not go any further. The princess 
insisted, asking if he did not know her, and 
from whom he had his orders ? The officer 
replied, that he had the honor to know her 
majesty, and that his orders had been given 
him by his colonel. Nevertheless, the empress 
attempted to advance, in spite of the guards, 
who crossed their bayonets to prevent her. 
The princess, at length, turning to Pettarozkoi, 
gave him a box on the ear, and sunk down 
fainting into an arm-chair. 

The two grand duchesses, Maria and Cathe- 
rine, had followed their mother, whom they in 
vain attempted to calm. The empress asking 
for a glass of water, a soldier snatched it from 
the hands of the person who had brought it, and 
turning to the empress, presented it to her, 
after drinking a few drops of it, saying, " You 
may drink without apprehension, there is no 
poison in it." 



26 CHAPTER I. 

At length the empress returned to her apart- 
ments. Pahlen went there to conduct her to her 
son. Though she had scarcely had time to reco- 
ver herself ; she had sufficient strength to assert 
her rights : and, pretended that, by virtue of 
her coronation, she was reigning empress ; and 
that, as such, the oath of allegiance ought to be 
taken to her. The emperor had already lost 
much precious time in waiting for his mother, 
and finding her thus disposed, he turned to 
Pahlen and said, " Here is a new embarrass- 
ment, which we did not expect." Pahlen, not 
suffering himself to be stopped by any con- 
sideration, obliged the emperor to set out im- 
mediately. The same carriage which was pre- 
pared to convey Paul to the fortress, served to 
take Alexander from the Michailow palace to 
the winter palace, where he was to receive the 
oath of allegiance from the great officers of the 
empire. Pahlen and Subow got up behind the 
carriage; the battalions of the guards following. 
Benningsen remained with the empress mother, 



CHAPTER I. 



27 



in order to persuade her to renounce the ideas 
which occupied her thoughts. It was not with- 
out difficulty that Maria Fedeorowna was in- 
duced to renounce her pretensions ; and such 
are the charms of supreme authority, that in 
the midst of this night of horror they had suf- 
ficient ascendency to make a mild and virtuous 
woman forget the dangers of power, the terrible 
death of a husband, the sentiments of a mother, 
the counsels of prudence and reason. 

At length the empress was induced to take 
the oath to the emperor, her son. From that 
moment, every thing went on as if Paul had 
died a natural death. 

Messrs. Vette, surgeon, and Stoff, physician, 
opened the body of Paul; and described, in 
the technical language of their art, the causes 
which had occasioned the death of the emperor; 
he was embalmed, and lay in state for a fort- 
night, and then deposited in the vault of his 
ancestors, with all the accustomed pomp. 



28 CHAPTER I. 

It was observed that whenever the usual 
ceremonies obliged Alexander to approach the 
remains of his father, the expression of grief 
was evident in all his features. 

As for the assassins of Paul, they were all re- 
moved to a distance ; several of them were sent 
to the regiments in Siberia. Count Pahlen 
himself was obliged to quit St. Petersburg; 
and the following is the occasion which served 
as a pretext for removing him. 

A short time after the death of Paul, a priest 
pretended to have received, in a miraculous 
manner, an image, under which these words 
were written, " God will punish all the assas- 
sins of Paul I." Count Pahlen, being informed 
of the impression which this imposture pro- 
duced, complained of it to the Emperor Alex- 
ander, who gave him permission to put an end 
to the intrigues of the priest. The count or- 
dered him to be scourged. The pretended 
visionary, confessing his cheat, declared that 



CHAPTER I. 



29 



he had only acted by order of the empress 
dowager, who possessed a similar image. 
Count Pahlen caused it to be removed by 
force from the chapel of that princess. In- 
censed at the violence of this proceeding, she 
demanded satisfaction from the emperor, her 
son. M. de Becklechew received orders from 
the emperor to intimate to Count Pahlen that he 
was to leave St. Petersburg in a private man- 
ner. Pahlen immediately resigned all his offi- 
ces ; the emperor, when he was informed of it, 
merely said, "It is an excellent plan that Count 
Pahlen has adopted; but, that the sacrifice may 
be complete, his departure must be speedy." 
Two hours after, he was on the way to Riga 



30 



CHAPTER II. 

Alexander having thus assumed the govern- 
ment, issued a proclamation, in which he 
says — " On ascending the Imperial throne, 
we take upon us, at the same time, the obli- 
gation, to govern the people confided to us 
by God, according to the laws, and in the 
spirit of our grandmother of glorious memory, 
the Empress Catherine II. that, according to 
her wise plans, we may raise Russia to the 
highest pitch of glory, and secure the perma- 
nent welfare of our subjects." No mention 
was made of his father's government. As . 
Alexander's handsome person, and the expres- 
sion of moral goodness in his pleasing coun- 
tenance, had already acquired him the love of 
the people, he soon confirmed it, by the bene- 
ficial tendency of his new institutions, and 
particularly by revoking numerous absurd and 



CHAPTER II. 31 

vexatious ordinances issued oy the late em- 
peror; and the prudence and firmness which 
were manifested by the youthful sovereign, ex- 
cited throughout Europe the most joyful hopes. 

His first and great wish was to preserve 
peace in his empire, and, if possible, to give 
it to the belligerent powers. The manner in 
which he proceeded was equitable, without 
weakness ; suitable to his dignity, without 
haughtiness. Immediately after his accession, 
he sent a letter to the King of England, in 
which he openly expressed his wish to arrange 
the existing differences by amicable negocia- 
tion. On the 26th of March, he gave orders 
to set at liberty the captains and crews of 
English ships, who had been sent into the inte- 
rior of the empire, and revoked the prohibition 
of exportation : and, in order to put an end to 
the shedding of blood, he caused his pacific 
dispositions to be signified to Admiral Parker 
(then commanding the English fleet in the 
Baltic, which had just been employed in the 
attack on Copenhagen), and made him respon- 



32 CHAPTER II. 

sible for any act of hostility. But he did not 
renounce the convention of neutrality which 
had been concluded with the other northern 
powers, or endeavour to obtain separate advan- 
tages for himself. These moderate and pacific 
dispositions gave great pleasure at Berlin, 
where the war with England had by no means 
been wished for : but, of course, they were not 
much relished at Paris. Alexander, however, 
had sent a letter to Buonaparte, which shewed, 
at least, that France had no reason to appre- 
hend hostilities. Ambassadors were therefore 
sent, both from London and Paris, to St. Pe- 
tersburg, to carry the usual congratulations of 
their governments, and to answer the expres- 
sion of the emperor's pacific intentions. Lord 
St. Helens and General Duroc were equally 
well received at St. Petersburg. 

The consequences of the negociation soon 
appeared. As Russia had been the first to 
commence hostilities, and to lay an embargo 
on the English ships and property in its ports, 
it seemed reasonable it shonld be the first to 



CHAPTER IT. 33 

take off the embargo, which was accordingly- 
done on the 18th of May; and, as soon as the 
news reached London, orders were given, on 
the 4th of June, to take off the embargo laid 
upon Russian and Danish ships. The strongest 
proof of his wish for peace was given by Alex- 
ander, in the rapidity with which a new mari- 
time convention between Russia and England 
was concluded at St. Petersburg, on the 17th 
of June, in which the principal points in dis- 
pute between the two powers were given up 
by Russia, to the no little surprise of the courts 
of Stockholm and Copenhagen ; the latter of 
which was reasonably dissatisfied, that those 
principles had been abandoned, in the mainte- 
nance of which the blood and property of its 
subjects had been so generously sacrificed in 
the contest with England, and that it was for- 
saken by the very power, whose threatening 
superiority had compelled it unconditionally to 
accede to the St. Petersburg convention of the 
16th of December, 1800. 



34 CHAPTER II. 

About the same time a treaty of alliance, 
commerce, and navigation, was published, 
which had been concluded between Sweden 
and Russia, during the life of Paul, but was 
not ratified till some time after his death. 

Preliminaries of peace were signed at Paris, 
on the 1st of October, between England and 
France ; and, on the 8th of the same month, a 
treaty of peace was concluded between France 
and Russia. By an article in the treaty be- 
tween France and Turkey, the independence 
of the republic of the seven Ionian islands was 
recognised, and their constitution guaranteed 
by France and Russia. 

The peace of Europe being restored, at least 
for a time, Alexander was at leisure to attend 
to the internal affairs of his vast empire ; and 
while the philanthropist looked with sorrow at 
the despotism exercised by the French govern- 
ment in the conquered states, and at the rigour 



CHAPTER II. 35 

with which every thing in the French empire 
itself was modelled, according to the austere 
forms of a military system, he turned with, 
pleasure to contemplate the humane, mild, and 
beneficent government of Russia, and a cheer- 
ful presentiment of happier times rose in the 
mind, when it saw what Alexander had done 
in the first few months of his reign. He abo- 
lished what was called the Chancery of the 
Secret Inquisition, which Catherine the Second 
had retained since 1762, under the milder 
name of the Secret Department ; he established 
(11th April) a permanent council for the pre- 
vious examination of all ordinances that were 
to be issued, on the affairs of the empire ; he 
placed the Directing Senate, erected by Peter 
the Great, as a moral mediator between the 
people and the sovereign. It may be said, 
with truth, that during the whole course of his 
reign, Alexander constantly acted in the spirit 
of these three ordinances. The arbitrary deci- 
sions of cabinet orders was no longer law for 
the subject ; mature deliberation preceded 

d 2 



36 CHAPTER II. 

every resolution ; and it was not a vain form of 
words, when the emperor, in his manifesto 
upon his coronation at Moscow, on the 27th of 
September, declared, that since his accession 
to the throne, he had been fully sensible of the 
duty of making his people happy, and that 
their welfare was the sole object of his wishes. 
He restored the commercial relations which 
had been suspended, recalled a number of 
exiles from Siberia, allowed the free importa- 
tion of books, made the censorship less strict, 
exempted the clergy from corporal punishment, 
restored to the nobility and the citizens their 
ancient rights, gave the farmers permission to 
cut wood in the forests, encouraged trade and 
manufactures, and endeavoured to improve the 
condition of the vassals. 

Nor were his benevolent exertions confined 
to the internal affairs of his own empire ; he 
exerted his power abroad to make peace, to 
assert the freedom of the seas, and the inde- 
pendence of weaker nations against the ambi- 



CHAPTER II. 37 

tion of the strong. On the 26th April, Mr. 
Von Kalitschef, his minister at Paris, presented 
a note to the government, in which he declared 
that harmony could not exist between the two 
states, unless the Kings of Naples and of Sar- 
dinia were restored to the possession of their 
dominions, and also the three articles fulfilled : 
(these were supposed to be the preservation of 
the temporal power of the Pope; the indemnifi- 
cation of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Italy, 
and not in Germany ; and that the arrangements 
to be made in the German empire, according to 
the treaty of Luneville, should not take place 
without the concurrence of Russia). The em- 
peror first appointed for his chief ministers, 
Count Panin and Prince Kurakin; the latter 
was at the head of the foreign department, and 
when Count Panin resigned in September, he 
was succeeded by Count Kotschubei. 

Under the reign of Paul, Georgia had been 
occupied by Russian troops, with a view to 
incorporate it with the Russian empire. The 



38 CHAPTER II. 

ukase to this effect was dated 28th January, 
1801. So far back as 1783 the Czar Heraclius, 
who had been celebrated by his wars, had 
exchanged the protection of Persia and Turkey 
for that of Russia, and from that time attacks 
from abroad, and quarrels between the preten- 
ders to the crown at home, had frequently led 
the inhabitants to wish to give themselves up 
entirely to the Russians. Alexander examined 
first, whether it would not be possible to restore 
the former government, under the protection of 
Russia, and to maintain tranquillity and secu- 
rity ; but as no means could be found to check 
the revenge of the pretenders to the crown, if 
the government was left to them, Alexander 
agreed to the union of the country with Russia. 
" But," said Alexander, 'mot for the aggrandize- 
ment of our power, not with interested views, 
butmerely to establish justice, and the security 
persons and property. All the taxes paid by 
your country shall be employed for your own 
advantage, and in the re~ establishment of the 
ruined towns and villages: your happiness and 



CHAPTER II. 



39 



welfare will be the most agreeable, and the only 
reward for us. — September 24th." 

The first half of 1802, was occupied with the 
negociations respecting the indemnifications in 
Germany. The question was in fact decided in 
Paris ; for, though the diet at Ratisbon had 
chosen a deputation to arrange the plan, this 
deputation did nothing. Almost all the Ger- 
man states sent ambassadors to Paris, and left 
no means untried to gain the favour of the French 
government. Under these circumstances, it 
was probably fortunate for Germany, that the 
Emperor of Russia took part in the negocia- 
tions, and the interview between him and the 
King of Prussia, in the beginning of June, was 
not without importance. If no political plans 
were agreed upon, yet the amicable meeting of 
the two sovereigns could hardly fail to have 
an influence on political interests. Prussia 
obtained the assent of Russia to its own plans, 
and secured itself against the preponderating 
influence of France. On the 4th June the whole 



40 CHAPTER II. 

plan for the indemnification was laid before M. 
Markof, Russian ambassador at Paris, and a 
separate convention concluded with him on the 
subject, which the Emperor Alexander ratified 
on the 16th July, but with the reservation of a 
complete indemnification for the King of Sar- 
dinia, as well as for the House of Holstein 
Oldenburg, for the abolition of the toll on the 
Weser at Elsfleth. 

As Alexander, without interested views, 
exerted the influence of his power to give 
internal peace to Germany and to protect the 
weaker princes of Italy, he persevered in the 
zealous prosecution of measures to promote the 
welfare and the improvement of his own sub- 
jects, and promised to give a new impulse to 
the arts and sciences throughout his vast em- 
pire. In order to introduce generally, a rational 
administration of justice, the Committee of 
Legislation, established under Catherine, was 
revived. To give a check to the arbitrary 
conduct, which had hitherto been too common 



CHAPTER LI. 41 

in the governors general of the provinces, they 
were strictly enjoined not to interfere in the 
course of judicial proceedings. The right of 
possessing landed property was extended to 
all Russian subjects, and thereby a suitable 
beginning made towards the abolition of the 
vassalage of the peasants. It may easily be 
presumed that the care of the poor was not one 
of the last objects of the government. On the 
other hand the emperor endeavoured to intro- 
duce all possible economy into his own house- 
hold ; he abolished many offices about the court, 
but provided for those who had held them. 
Constant attention was paid to navigation and 
commerce, canals were dug, roads improved, 
&c. The commerce with England was very 
active, and an act of justice, in giving the 
English an indemnity of 700,000 rbls. for the 
loss sustained by the embargo, was undoubt- 
edly advantageous in its consequences to his 
own subjects. Particular attention was paid by 
Alexander to the commerce of the Black Sea. 
The most fertile provinces of Russia are situated 



42 CHAPTER II. 

on its northern shores, and were a principal 
source of lucrative commerce in ancient times 
to the Greeks, and in later times to the Genoese. 
The Russian settlements on the north-west 
coast of America were not too remote for his 
notice; and by his favour and support, the 
Russians undertook, for the first time, a voyage 
round the world. 

Schools for the people were established, gym- 
nasia instituted, universities endowed, valuable 
collections purchased, and men of learning 
encouraged. Military schools were founded, 
for which half a million of rubles annually were 
assigned. The example of the sovereign was 
followed by wealthy subjects, the nobility of 
Pensa subscribed ninety thousand rubles to 
found a gymnasium for poor nobles, and other 
provinces followed this example. The censor- 
ship was confided to the civil government, in 
conjunction with the board of direction for the 
popular schools ; the universities were pro- 
perly exempted from this restriction, but 



CHAPTER II. 43 

responsible for what the members wrote; the 
book trade flourished, and the first book was 
printed at Tobolsk in Siberia. In order to 
honour by external distinctions, military valour 
and civil virtues, Alexander restored the two 
orders founded by Catherine, but never con- 
ferred by Paul, — namely, the order of Saint 
George for military services, and that of Saint 
Wladimir for civil merit. 

A new creation began throughout the em- 
pire, and the whole administration received 
a new form by two ukases of the 20th Septem- 
ber. The chief alterations were, that every 
branch of the administration had its own sepa- 
rate minister ; that two entirely new depart- 
ments were created, that of the interior and 
that of popular instruction ; that the rights of 
the senate were secured by law, and the powers 
of the governors general limited. Each minis- 
ter was to be answerable for all the acts of his 
department : they are all under the superin- 
tendence of the senate, to which they must 



^4 CHAPTER II. 

annually give an account, but have, however, a 
seat and vote in it. 

Though Alexander was not fond of war, he 
felt that it was necessary to be always prepared 
for it, to check any inclinations in foreign 
powers to attack him. He therefore intro- 
duced a new system for recruiting the army. 
Two men out of every five hundred souls were 
to be soldiers, and the army was increased to 
five hundred thousand men. A small detach- 
ment of Russian troops was employed to cover 
the frontier towards Persia, where a Chan Baba 
had attacked and repulsed the Russians in 
Georgia, and another small detachment landed 
in Corfu. 

1803. The war between France and England 
having recommenced in the spring of this 
year, in consequence of which the kingdom of 
Hanover was occupied by the French, and 
the Elbe and Weser declared in a state of 
blockade by the English, Alexander again inter- 



CHAPTER II. 



45 



fered, with, the humane desire to restore peace, 
but without effect. Towards the end of this 
year, the relations between France and Russia 
seemed to be rather precarious. Count Mar- 
kof quitted Paris at the end of November, 
leaving only the secretary of legation Oubril ; 
even in the French papers a hint was given, that 
General Hedouville, the French ambassador, 
would soon quit Petersburg. 

Meantime, Alexander continued his wise 
plans for the improvement of his own domi- 
nions. He purchased a large tract of land 
near his summer residence at Kamenoi-Ostrof, 
to introduce the English system of farming, by 
means of English husbandmen, whom he had 
invited to Russia ; Germans and Swiss came to 
the coasts of the Black Sea, where they ob- 
tained grants of land, and pecuniary assistance 
to establish themselves, and to begin to culti- 
vate the soil ; and in a short time vines were 
planted in the Crimea. Count Sergei Roman- 
zofF had expressed a wish to be allowed to 



46 CHAPTER II. 

give to some of his vassals, together with 
their liberty, some portions of land, so 
that they might become free cultivators ; 
hitherto there had been no such class in 
Russia. Alexander created it by a ukase 
of 4th March, by which he permitted every 
landed proprietor to transfer to vassals, on 
giving them their liberty, land to be held by 
them as free cultivators, either by sale or on 
other conditions. 

As trade increased, manufactures were natu- 
rally improved and extended. The ports on the 
Black Sea, above all Odessa, were visited during 
this year by numerous Austrian, French, Eng- 
lish, and Spanish ships, for the import duties 
were moderate, and there was great abundance 
of various productions, particularly corn and 
timber. A new world seemed to arise in the 
fine climate from 47° to 48°, in a fruitful soil ; 
and, when we recollect, that before the Chris- 
tian era, the Greeks found this trade so advan- 
tageous, that Miletus founded several colonies 
on this coast ; that in the middle ages, Genoa 



CHAPTER II, 47 

became rich by its trade with KafYa, there ap- 
peared reason to entertain still greater hopes, in 
an age when navigation had attained such a 
high degree of perfection. A company was esta- 
blished for carrying on the herring fishery in 
the White Sea, which the emperor took under 
his especial protection. In the ports of the Bal- 
tic, commerce was very flourishing, and the 
Mercantile Gazette, published at St. Peters- 
burg, sometimes gave interesting accounts of 
the internal trade of the empire. The Kirghis, 
who lead a wandering life, have immense num- 
bers of camels, oxen, horses, and sheep, which 
they exchange with their frontier neighbours, 
for kettles, knives, &c. In many years they 
bring from 3 to 400,000 sheep to Orenburg, the 
skins and fat of which are important arti- 
cles of commerce for; Russia. Large caravans 
came also from Khiwa and Bucharia, and the 
trade with China, carried on at Kiachta, on the 
Chinese frontier, offered a very satisfactory re- 
sult. The reports of the Rusian American 
Company were likewise very favourable. 



48 CPIAPTER II. 

It was particularly with a view to establish the 
commerce of this Prussian American Company 
in Eastern Asia, and to open a more extensive 
intercourse with Japan and China, that the 
first Russian voyage round the world, which 
we have above-mentioned, was undertaken. 
The expedition consisted of two ships, under 
the command of Captain Krusenstern, and had 
on board Mr. ResanofF, who w 7 as to remain in 
Japan as ambassador from Russia. As it was 
expected that there would be opportunities for 
many new discoveries in geography and natural 
history, several learned Germans were engaged 
to accompany the expedition. This latter and 
secondary object was attained to a very great 
degree, but the main purpose entirely failed, 
the Japanese government having refused to 
allow an ambassador to reside in the country. 
The ships returned home in 1805. 

The measures for the instruction of youth, 
and the promotion of learning and useful know- 
ledge, were continued with unremitting acti- 



CHAPTER II. 49 

vity. On the 5th February, a circumstantial 
ukase was issued, ordering the establishment of 
schools and universities nearly on the same 
plan as in France. Half a million of rubles 
was assigned to defray the expenses in 1803, 
but this sum has since been doubled. Besides 
the three existing universities at Moscow, 
Wilna, and Dorpat, three others were immedi- 
ately founded at St. Petersburg, Kasan, and 
Charkow; and, in the sequel, three others at 
Kiew, Tobolsk, and Ustiny Wei ike. The Aca- 
demy of Sciences, at St. Petersburg, received, 
on the 17th September, a new form, that, in 
co-operation with the newly founded universi- 
ties, it might diffuse knowledge through the 
empire, make the sciences more popular, and, 
by means of travels, particularly in the interior 
of Russia, obtain a more complete knowledge 
of the country. The revenue of the academy 
was increased from 54,000 rubles to 120,000. 
The government, likewise, devoted its attention 
to the care of the poor and the sick, and the 
exalted philanthropy of the empress mother 

E 



I 



50 



CHAPTER II. 



was not contented with contributing large 
sums for the support of foundling hospitals, 
and establishments for widows and sick per- 
sons, she also founded several new ones, and 
took an immediate part in the superintendence 
and direction of them. 

" Justice and goodness" repeated the French 
papers, " are the supports of Alexander's 
throne;" for the French government was very- 
desirous to have the friendship of Russia in the 
execution of its plans, or at least to make the 
world believe that Russia was amicably dis- 
posed. But Alexander's goodness was not 
weakness; his justice not without energy. The 
King of Sweden transgressed the frontier in 
Finland. There was a bridge joining the 
island of Hermansari with Klein Abborfors, 
half of which belonged to Sweden and the 
other to Russia ; and, accordingly, the Swedish 
half was painted grey, and the Russian of a 
different colour. The King of Sweden caused 
the whole to be painted grey ; and when, upon 



CHAPTER II. 51 

the first note presented by the Russian ambas- 
sador at Stockholm, far from repairing the 
wrong, the Swedish ministers intimated that 
they had a right to maintain what they had 
taken — the emperor gave orders to strengthen 
the fortress of Kymenogorod, on the frontiers of 
Finland, and to throw up new works on the river 
Kymene; the galley fleet was armed, and the 
army received orders to be ready to march to 
the frontiers of Finland. The King of Sweden 
yielded, indeed, and all was restored to its 
former condition. But this little dispute 
had given the Russian government a wel- 
come opportunity to put the fleet and army 
into motion ; to arm, to complete, and to in- 
crease its military establishment. For it be- 
came more and more apparent what France 
threatened ; and, though war was probably not 
yet thought of, it was judged necessary, for 
the dignity of the empire, to maintain, even in 
peace, a force, which, in case of need, might 
support any remonstrances that it would be 
necessary to make. Buonaparte had promised 

e2 



52 



CHAPTER II. 



an indemnity for the kingdom of Sardinia, but 
did not keep his word. Alexander had inter- 
ceded for Hanover. Buonaparte evaded, by 
flattery or fair promises, and evidently de- 
pended on Alexander's love of peace. But it 
was even now reported, that the cabinet of St. 
Petersburg differed in many points with that of 
Berlin ; and, at the end of the year, all the 
journals spoke of great armaments both by sea 
and land, that were making in Russia. France 
pretended that all this was intended to main- 
tain an armed neutrality against England. 
Russia let this pass, that it might, with less 
impediment, organise its forces. 

On the south-east frontiers of the empire, in 
the newly acquired province of Georgia, the 
Lesghis, a predatory mountain tribe, made 
repeated incursions, and even got possession 
of the fortress of Belakun. Major- General 
Gulakow defeated them, drove them back 
over the river Ulasun, and recovered Belakun. 
They, however, still maintained their ground 
in the mountainous province of Dshar. 



CHAPTER II. 53 

As the rapid increase of the population of 
Russia is one of the most remarkable circum- 
stances of that empire, it will be interesting to 
state, from time to time, the official report of 
the births and deaths. 

In the year 1801— Births . . . 1,179,476 
Deaths . . 726,271 

Increase . 453,205 

In the year 1802— Births . . . 1,304,471 
Deaths , . 688,374 

Increase . 616,097 



According to this statement, the number of 
inhabitants would be about thirty millions. 
But, as the returns are only of the part of the 
population belonging to the Greek church, 
who are estimated at about three-fourths of 
the whole, the total amount may have been 
about forty millions of souls, at the beginning 
of Alexander's reign. 

On May 28th, the hundredth anniversary of 



54 CHAPTER II, 

the foundation of St. Petersburg, was cele- 
brated with great solemnity and rejoicing, by 
the Emperor s order. 

The inhabitants of the Republic of the Seven 
Islands recovered the enjoyment of order and 
tranquillity under the protection of Russia, 
which probably did not overlook how impor- 
tant these islands might in future become, as a 
military possession. At the beginning of the 
year, the nobles were still plundered and even 
murdered, but the rioters were thrown into 
prison, Russian troops spread over the islands, 
and an effectual check put upon the influence 
of France. 



55 



CHAPTER III. 

1804. — The events of this year realised, in a 
great degree, the presentiment that had for 
some time prevailed, of a breach of the good 
understanding between Russia and France. 
The internal changes and events in France, 
and, above all, the assumption of the Imperial 
dignity by Buonaparte, were the chief objects of 
the general attention of Europe ; and almost all 
the important political relations of the states 
with each other had reference to France. The 
arrest and murder of the Duke of Enghien 
excited universal horror and indignation. It 
might have been expected that the Elector of 
Baden, that the German empire, would have re- 
monstrated against this violation of neutrality. 
Alas! they were silent. But posterity will not 
believe that all sense of justice and humanity 



56 CHAPTER III. 

was banished from the hearts of their ances- 
tors; that none of them felt the insult offered 
to the German name. It was felt, and felt 
deeply. But this seeming indifference was the 
unhappy fruit of disunion, mistrust, and heart- 
less despondency. All the German sovereigns 
held their peace ; but the noble Alexander, 
animated by a lively sense of justice and law, 
who did not love war, but also did not meanly 
fear it, when a just cause was to be defended, 
and insolent preponderance to be averted, made 
an attempt to rouse the slumbering spirit of the 
Germans. On the 7th of May, Mr. Von Kliip- 
fel, the Russian minister, presented a note to 
the diet at Ratisbon, expressing, in the strong- 
est terms, the emperor's sorrow and indignation 
at this violation of the territory of Germany, 
which afflicted his imperial majesty the more, 
as he could by no means expect that a power 
which, in conjunction with him, had directed 
the arrangement of the affairs of Germany, and 
had consequently bound itself to participate in 
his cares for the welfare and tranquillity of the 



CHAPTER 111. 57 

German empire, could deviate in such a mea- 
sure from the sacred principles of the law of 
nations, and from the obligations which it had 
so lately taken upon itself. 

A note, containing a similar declaration, was 
presented, on the 12th of May, by Mr. Oubril 
at Paris. But, notwithstanding the assurance 
of the powerful support of Russia, the German 
sovereigns dreaded taking any step which might 
provoke the resentment of France. It was con- 
trived that the Russian note should not be dis- 
cussed in the diet at Ratisbon. At length, on 
the 2d of June, the ambassador of Baden gave 
verbally a declaration, which had been agreed 
upon between Talleyrand and the ministers of 
Austria, Prussia, and Baden, to the effect, that 
his highness, the Elector of Baden, while he 
most sincerely respected the pure motives of 
his majesty the Emperor of Russia, and grate- 
fully acknowledged the interest he took in the 
welfare of the elector and his family, would be 
deeply afflicted if the event which had hap- 



58 CHAPTER III. 

pened in his country should lead to differences, 
which might be attended with the most dan- 
gerous consequences to the peace of Germany. 
These considerations, and his confidence in the 
good intentions of the French government to- 
wards the German empire, induced the elector 
ardently to desire that the communications and 
proposals made on the subject, in the German 
diet, might not be carried any further. The 
Prussian ambassador declared that his king 
was perfectly satisfied with the explanations 
given by France, and consequently acceded 
to the wish of the Elector of Baden. The 
subject was therefore dropped, without any 
farther notice of the Russian note, or any 
satisfactory assurance on the part of France. 

The correspondence between Mr. Oubril and 
Talleyrand at Paris, only tended to widen the 
breach between the two parties ; so that Mr. 
Oubril, having presented his final answer on the 
28th August, left Paris on the 31st of that 
month, and went to Mayence, where the French 



CHAPTER III. 59 

emperor was expected. He here received a 
courier from his court, had several conferences 
with Talleyrand, and did not leave Mayence 
till the 2nd October ; yet he still remained 
near the French frontier, at Frankfort on the 
Maine, from which city he set out on the 19th 
October, on his return to Russia. It may be 
presumed that the causes of this delay, were, 
on the one hand, that Russia did not desire to 
act precipitately, and on the other hand, that 
France took advantage of this disposition to 
keep Russia as long as possible in suspense, 
maintaining, in secret communications and offi- 
cial notices, hopes which certainly did not agree 
with the preceding notes and other statements, 
which were not indeed official. At the very 
time that Mr. Oubril left Paris, the Moniteur 
affirmed, that the report of a misunderstanding 
with Russia was false, only invented by Eng- 
land to alarm Europe. General Hedouville, the 
French ambassador at St. Petersburg, left that 
city on the 8th June, and, according to the 
French papers, the Emperor Alexander had 



60 CHAPTER nr. 

treated him with the greatest distinction when 
he had his audience of leave. 

Mr. Raineval, who remained at St. Petersburg 
as charg6 d'affaires, presented a note, couched 
in the most moderate and flattering terms; this 
note expressed the surprise of the French 
government at the conduct of Russia in with- 
drawing its charge d'affaires from Paris. The 
French emperor believed that it was the true 
interest of France to be on good terms with 
Russia, and his particular inclination had always 
led him to a confidential intercourse of esteem 
and friendship with the Russian emperor; from 
the notions he had formed of the character of 
Alexander, he never could have thought him 
inclined to recognise the pretensions of the 
house of Bourbon, or to tolerate their attempts. 
No doubt the unhappy change in the sentiments 
of the Russian court, must be ascribed to evil 
minded persons, and it was to be lamented, that 
a friendship which was so sincere should have 
been impaired. "These/' says the note, "are the 



CHAPTER Iir. 61 

constant sentiments of the French emperor, 
who now, and at all future times, will be 
inclined to renew the old relations with Russia, 
and will be happy to see a perfect understand- 
ing restored between the two empires, which 
must be of great advantage to themselves and 
to the repose of Europe in general." Such was 
the substance of this note, which was published 
in German, in a Hamburgh paper. It never 
was published in French ; and the Paris journals 
endeavoured to discredit it, by declaring that 
it was not official, nor conformable to the 
original. All these fine words however availed 
nothing. Mr. Raineval left St. Petersburg on 
the 21st September; but Mr. Lesseps remained 
as commercial agent. 

The misunderstanding between France and 
Russia led to a difference between the Russian 
cabinet and the Papal court. As the pope, 
disregarding the representations of the Rus- 
sian ambassador, and complying only with the 
demands of the French government, had caused 



62 CHAPTER III. 

Count Vernegues to be arrested and delivered 
up, Alexander recalled Count Kassini from 
Rome: Monsiegnor Arezzo, the papal nuncio, 
and his auditor Aivisini were obliged to leave St. 
Petersburg in June, and on the 10th August 
the emperor addressed a rescript to the metro- 
politan of the Romish Church in Russia, Ses- 
trenzewicz, in which he declared to him that all 
communication with the see of Rome, was 
broken off, so long as the reasons for the inter- 
ruption existed, and ordered him to take care 
that all the Catholics in Russia should enjoy 
every thing necessary to satisfy their wants, and 
to that end, to exercise all the rights, privileges, 
and power, which had been given him by Pope 
Pius VI. 

During the remainder of this year, Russia 
continued to increase its forces both by sea and 
land, and the Moniteur found plausible ground 
to cast suspicion upon Russia, in the occupation 
of the island of Corfu, in the Russian conquests 
from Persia on the Turkish frontier, and in the 



CHAPTER III. 63 

report, which was industriously circulated, that 
Russia by its secret agents fomented the trou- 
bles in European Turkey. The pretended con- 
quests in Persia appear to have been limited 
to various advantages gained over the Lesghis. 
With respect to the Ionian islands, there were, 
in the beginning of August, ten thousand 
Russian troops distributed through the seven 
islands, which continued to prosper under the 
protection of Alexander. The French govern- 
ment endeavoured, but without effect, to excite 
the jealousy of the Porte against Russia, by insi- 
nuating that it intended to take possession of 
Moldavia and Wallachia, that it had made an 
alliance with the Greeks in Albania, that the 
Montenegrins had taken the oath of allegiance 
to Russia, and that proposals had been made to 
the rebel Pasha Paswan Oglu, to receive a 
Russian consul at Widdin. 

The misunderstanding between Russia and 
France excited great joy in London, where it 
was pretended that an alliance between Eng- 



64 CHAPTER III. 

land and Russia was concluded on the 2 1st May, 
or certainly on the 31st of July, and this, even 
an offensive and defensive alliance, to which 
Sweden would accede, and it was hoped some 
other continental powers. It appeared, how- 
ever, that Russia was not inclined to enter into 
an offensive alliance against France ; the nego- 
ciations however were not interrupted ; and, at 
the end of October, Lord Gower went as am- 
bassador extraordinary from London to Peters- 
burg, and Mr. Novosilsof from Petersburg to 
London. 

Meantime, Russia continued with great acti- 
vity its armaments both by sea and land. Be- 
sides the fleet at Corfu, a squadron of three 
ships of the line, and two frigates, sailed from 
Cronstadt in August, and having taken in pro- 
visions and water in England, proceeded in 
November to the Mediterranean. Preparations 
were also made with great diligence in all the 
ports, Sebastopol on the Black Sea was de- 
clared the first military sea-port, and all mer- 



CHAPTER III. 65 

chant ships excluded* The recruiting for the 
army continued, and the regular and irregular 
troops amounted together to half a million of 
men. The armies were chiefly assembled on 
the western frontiers, in the provinces that 
had formerly belonged to Poland. Europe 
looked with impatience to the result of all these 
measures. These exertions for the security 
and external dignity of the empire, by no 
means diverted the attention of Alexander, and 
his wise ministers, from the internal affairs of 
his vast dominions. Exertions were made 
more perfectly to organise the departments of 
the government, and to simplify them as much 
as possible. The rights and situation of the 
peasantry were secured by positive determina- 
tions ; facilities were afforded to commerce ; 
the public schools were enlarged ; and the good 
spirit which proceeded from the government 
was communicated to the rich and the great in 
all the provinces. 

The division of the territory, especially in so 

F . 1 ' 



66 CHAPTER III. 

great an empire, is a point of considerable im- 
portance. Peter the Great divided the empire 
into eight governments. But as it soon ap- 
peared that the divisions were too large, their 
number was gradually increased to eighteen, 
without any considerable external addition to 
the empire. In 1786 Catherine divided the 
empire into forty-two governments : by the 
new acquisitions on the Dniester in Poland, and 
the submission of Courland in 1795 and 96, 
their number was increased to fifty. This 
division was not yet entirely completed, 
when Paul revoked it in 1796, and ordered 
that the number of governments should be 
forty-one. Alexander thought proper to re- 
establish the governments which had been 
abolished in the preceding reign, so that in- 
cluding Georgia there were fifty-one. The 
important task of drawing up a code for Russia, 
upon which the committee of legislation which 
was abolished, had been employed for so many 
years, was confided to the president of the 
academy, Mr. Von Novosilzof. 



CHAPTER III. 67 

The situation of the peasants was still farther 
improved in all the provinces ; many nobles 
gave liberty to their slaves for a moderate 
sum of money, and many by this means paid 
their debts, and had something left besides. 
Complaints of illegal and arbitrary proceedings 
and cruel oppression of the landowners towards 
their vassals, were particularly loud in Livonia. 
Alexander who leaves and gives to every one 
what is his due, but punishes without respect 
of persons, all violation of justice and hu- 
manity, had ordered a commission to" examine 
into the affairs of the Livonian peasantry. In 
consequence of the report made by the com- 
missioners, a detailed ordinance for the Livo- 
nian peasants was published on the 3rd of 
March, by which at least their obligations were 
legally determined. 

The prosperity of Odessa rapidly increased, 
ships of all the European nations came to pur- 
chase the produce of this fertile country, nay, 
even a Tripolitan ship fetchedwheat from Odes- 

f 2 



68 CHAPTER III. 

sa, to the coast of Barbary, once the granary of 
half the world. For the encouragement of trade 
the duties were reduced twenty-five per cent in 
all the Russian ports in the Euxine, and the 
Sea of Asof. 

In September, this year, an ukase was issued, 
entirely prohibiting the importation of all 
printed calicoes, of all cottons wove in colours, 
and all printed linens ; and, secondly, allowing 
all cottons and linens for printing on, to be im- 
ported by sea only : this measure was to be 
strictly enforced after the lapse of two months. 
The principal object of this ukase, was to en- 
courage the national manufactures. The effect 
of the ukase, for this year, was, that merchants 
from all parts of the Russian empire, hastened 
to the Leipzig Michaelmas fair, that they 
might in the two months, purchase a stock 
of the English calicoes, which were partly, 
or entirely prohibited, sufficient to supply 
heir warehouses for many years. Such 
vast quantities were purchased, that in spite 
of every exertion, there was soon want of 



CHAPTER III. 69 

waggons to carry them. The appearance of a 
caravan of waggons and kibitkas, was there- 
fore, extremely welcome, which just at this 
time returned to Leipzig, after having conveyed 
from St. Petersburg to Weimar, the marriage 
portion of the Grand-Duchess Maria, sister to 
the emperor, who was married to his Highness 
Charles Frederic, hereditary Prince of Saxe 
Weimar. Eighty waggons, with an hundred 
and fifty peasants, that were returning empty 
to Russia, were immediately put in requisition, 
and the same kibitka which had brought a chest 
with rich furs, or a gold toilet,^ for the imperial 
bride, was loaded on its return with calicos, 
bleached by the Scotch women on the banks of 
the Clyde and the Tay. 

By the command of the emperor, the minis- 
ter of commerce, Count Romanzof, published 
a view of the Russian commerce in the year 
1802 ; whereas, all facts of this nature had 
hitherto been kept secret. From the general 
result, it appeared that the total value of the 



70 CHAPTER III. 

importations into the ports of the Baltic, was 
32,983,418 rubles ; the value of the exports was 
46,917,134; excess of importation nearly four- 
teen millions of rubles, to which must be added, 
four millions of gold and silver, so that the 
balance of trade in the Baltic, was eighteen 
millions in favour of Russia. In the White Sea, 
the imports were 550,000 rubles ; the exports, 
chiefly of corn, 4,796,000. 

Indefatigable activity was continued to be 
bestowed on the improvement of universities 
and schools, and several learned Germans of 
acknowledged reputation, were induced to ac- 
cept of professorships at Wilna and Moscow. 
On the 16th of May, the emperor visited Dor- 
pat, where there were about one hundred and 
thirty students. The seeds sown by so many 
able men in the various provinces of the exten- 
sive empire, must produce abundant flowers 
and fruit in the next generation. But as the 
seed has been very rapidly forced by all the 
means of art, it may be apprehended that the 



/ 



CHAPTER 71 

flowers will be of short duration. Let us hope 
that they will yet produce good and mature 
fruits. 4 

A new edict, respecting the censorship of the 
press, proposed by the minister of popular in- 
struction, and approved by the Emperor was 
more rigorous than might have been expected 
from the wise tolerance of the Russian govern- 
ment ; some additions were however made to it, 
which afforded a pleasing proof of the personal 
humanity of Alexander, and form a contrast to 
the other parts of the edict. " The main object 
of the censorship, it is said, is to prevent the 
circulation of writings which are contrary to the 
advancement of real knowledge, and to moral 
improvement. Each university establishes a 
committee of censorship, which examines all 
books ordered from foreign countries for officers 
of the university; journals and newspapers, 
have particular censors ; all dramatic pieces 
must be submitted to the censor, before they 
are performed. Nothing must be inserted in 



72 



CHAPTER ITT. 



any book against religion, the government, good 
morals, or the personal honour of any citizen.' 9 
Here was added, by the emperor's desire: " The 
censors are to use a reasonable indulgence,and 
refrain from all partial interpretations of the 
meaning, which might give cause to prohibit 
the work. In doubtful cases, where a passage 
is susceptible of a two-fold explanation, it is 
always better to admit the interpretation fa- 
vourable to the author. A modest and reasona- 
ble discussion of every truth relative to religion, 
to the civil constitution, or to any branch of the 
administration, not only claims the mildest 
exercise of the censorship, but enjoys entire 
liberty of the press, which promotes the 
advancement of true knowledge." 



i 



73 



CHAPTER IV. 

1805. — During the whole of this year, the 
chief attention of the Russian government was 
directed to military armaments and foreign re- 
lations. But the improvements that had been 
commenced in the interior were not neglected. 
The population of Petersburg increased so 
rapidly, that in the year 1804 above 500 new 
houses were built. On the 5th of July the 
emperor himself laid the foundation stone of 
the new exchange. The influx of foreign set- 
tlers, especially from Germany, to the southern 
provinces of Russia, was so great, that it be- 
came necessary to set bounds to it; partly be- 
cause | there were but few crown lands fit for 
cultivation, remaining to be disposed of, and 
partly, because many infirm, sick, entirely ig- 
norant, and poor foreigners were become only 



74 CHAPTER IV. 

a burden to the government. It was therefore 
ordered, upon a representation of Count Victor 
Kotschubei, minister of the interior, that no 
more colonists should be invited, but that who- 
ever wished to go to Russia, should apply to 
the Russian ambassadors or agents abroad, who 
might give them passes and money for their 
travelling expenses. It was desired to have 
chiefly families, and only such foreigners as 
could be serviceable, as good farmers, garden- 
ers, and rural labourers, and who possessed a 
capital of at least three hundred florins. The 
number of colonists from Germany was not to 
exceed two hundred families a year. It ap- 
peared on enquiry, that the lands in New 
Russia, situated between the Bug and the 
Dniester, which had been assigned in 1 792, to 
landowners, with the obligation to cultivate 
them immediately, still lay waste, and that of 
about 825,000 dessatines, less than 7,000 had 
been settled in twelve years. The landowners 
in those parts were therefore enjoined to settle 
these lands, at the latest within four years from 



CHAPTER IV. 75 

the 1st of January 1805, so that there should 
be at least an hundred male settlers for every 
three thousand dessatines. 

As Tscherkask, in the country of the Don 
Cossacks, continually suffered by inundations, 
the foundations of new Tscherkask, were laid in 
the spring of 1805 on a more convenient spot; 
and the two regiments stationed at Tscherkask, 
were employed in the work. Greater advan- 
tages were expected from the improvement of 
Kaffu, which is now known by the name of Feo- 
dosia. Odessa continued to improve rapidly, 
and had already above two thousand stone 
houses, and about fifteen thousand inhabitants, 
and on the 7th of June, four hundred merchant- 
men were in the roads. In the Baltic a begin- 
ning was made to form a spacious harbour near 
Reval, calculated to contain thirty ships of the 
line. Large sums were employed on the foun- 
dation of schools in all parts of the empire, 
and wealthy subjects followed the example of 
the government. The number of military 



I 



76 CHAPTER IV. 

schools was fixed at ten, in which three thou- 
sand young noblemen were to be educated for 
officers. They were divided into fifteen compa- 
nies, of two hundred each. The new university 
of Chafkow was opened on the 29th of Janu- 
ary, and a revenue of 130,000 rubles assigned 
to it. 

Under the reign of Alexander, Russia already 
began to hope for the accomplishment of what 
had been long expected in vain. Peter the 
Great had directed his attention to the legis- 
lation of his empire, but very little was done 
in his reign. Since his time, various commis- 
sions for drawing up a code for Russia, had 
been almost constantly employed. The most 
distinguished of them was that organised by 
the Empress Catharine II. one hundred and 
twenty-eight persons were employed upon 
this work for seven years; but in 1774, Ca- 
tharine, whose expectations were not fulfilled, 
dissolved the commission. It was re-established 
under Paul, but without leading to any result. 



CHAPTER IV. 77 

Alexander's order of the 21st October, 1803, 
placed this commission under the superinten- 
dence of the minister of justice, Prince Lapu- 
chin, and Nicholas Novosilzow, who were put 
at the head of the great work, and showed in 
a few months, how worthy they were of Alex- 
ander's choice. Their first care was to lay 
down a fixed plan, of which they not only drew 
the outlines, but entered into the details, and 
accompanied it with a luminous statement of 
the principles, according to which it was drawn 
up. The whole work is divided into three 
principal parts, first, general legislation; second, 
application of this legislation to the Russian 
empire in general; and, third, modifications 
and exceptions for the several parts of the 
empire, according to their situations. A great 
progress had already been made in the spring 
of 1805, and an account of what had been done, 
printed in the Russian, French, German, Eng- 
lish, Italian, and Latin languages, and which 
had been sent to academies and learned societies 
throughout Europe, with a view of obtaining the 



78 CHAPTER IV. 

advice of judicious friends of humanity of all 
nations. 

The tediousness of law suits had long been a 
matter of great complaint in Russia. The 
Emperor Paul had therefore, in 1796, appointed 
three departments of the senate, whose sole 
employment was to decide the vast number of 
unfinished causes. Very little had, however, 
been done in eight years ; and it was therefore 
determined, on the proposal of Prince Lapu- 
chin, to abolish the three temporary depart- 
ments, to increase the senate by two new 
departments, so that it now consisted of nine 
departments, six of which were at St. Peters- 
burg, with sixty-one senators, and three at 
Moscow, with twenty-five senators. The whole 
body of the senate consisted of nine hundred 
persons ; and, that it might have time for the 
performance of its various duties, among many 
other new regulations, the number of holidays 
was reduced from sixty-two to thirty-one. 



CHAPTER IV. 79 

The enfranchisement of the peasants con- 
tinued, and the government took care that 
those who were made free should have suffi- 
cient means of subsistence, and that their 
liberty should be really a blessing. Petrowo- 
Solowowo, counsellor of state in the circle of 
Walugki, gave liberty to five thousand of his 
vassals, who were to pay him, in nineteen years, 
one million and a half of rubles, for the lands 
given up to them. Lastly, the numerous Jew- 
ish population of Russia, which, especially in 
the German provinces of the empire, had 
hitherto enjoyed only a precarious existence, 
were placed under the protection of the laws, 
and admitted among the other Russian sub- 
jects ; the restrictions under which they were 
admitted were probably rendered necessary by 
their actual situation, in respect to civilization 
and morals. 

It was evident that it was a chief object of 
Alexander to promote the cultivation of the 
soil and the population of his empire, and there 



80 CHAPTER IV. 

is no reason to doubt the sincerity of an offi- 
cial article in the Petersburg Gazette, which 
declared that the government by no means 
desired the increase of its territory, which, 
especially on the eastern frontier, was without 
any advantage, and only required exertions 
and sacrifices. Accordingly, the attempt made 
the preceding year, from Georgia against Eri- 
van, was disapproved in Petersburg. The 
troops had advanced too rashly in proportion 
to their numbers, and especially, as the chief 
object of this corps was to protect the frontier 
of Georgia against the incursions of predatory 
tribes. Though the Russians had been re- 
pulsed from Erivan, and no aggrandisement of 
the Russian power was to be apprehended on 
that side, the French cabinet took advantage of 
these hostilities, to excite in the Divan distrust 
of Russia. In this, however, it did not suc- 
ceed ; and the Porte even granted to Russia 
the free navigation of the Phasis, for the pur- 
pose of conveying reinforcements to the Rus- 
sian corps in Georgia, and allowed a small 



CHAPTER IV. 81 

detachment of Russian troops to occupy two 
forts on the banks of the river, to protect the 
navigation. The Russians soon made use of 
this permission, and, to the great vexation of 
the French government, three Russian ships of 
war arrived, at the beginning of this year, at 
the mouth of the Phasis, in Mingrelia, iaden with 
ammunition for the Russian army in Georgia, 
which was landed on the Turkish territory. 
Repeated attempts were made by the French, 
to cause a breach between the Porte and Rus- 
sia, but in vain. 

An alliance between England and Russia had 
been spoken of at London, in the preceding 
year; and, on the 11th of April, 1805, a treaty 
of concert between the two powers was con- 
cluded at St. Petersburg, by Lord Gower, 
Prince Czartorinski, and Mr. Von Novosilzof, 
by which Russia engaged to form a new coali- 
tion, and signed a treaty of offensive and defen- 
sive alliance with the courts of London,Vienna, 
and Stockholm. At this very time, Napoleon 



82 CHAPTER IV. 

placed upon his head the crown of Italy, 
and united the Ligurian republic with France ; 
thus overturning, with his own hands, the free 
states which he had himself established on the 
other side of the Alps. This was announcing 
an ambition without bounds, and projects of 
encroachment without limit. War was de- 
clared. Count Novosilzof, the Russian envoy 
at Berlin, who had received orders from the 
Emperor Alexander to proceed to Paris, to 
attempt an accommodation, which was as little 
intended by France as by Russia, thought it 
useless, according to his instructions, to fulfil 
this mission ; and, on the 10th of July, gave back 
to the Prussian minister, Count Hardenberg, 
the French passports which had been obtained 
for him, and returned to St. Petersburg, after 
publishing a note, couched in very strong- 
terms, in which he explained the reasons of his 
sovereign for going to war, throwing the blame 
of all the misfortunes of Europe on France. 

It must be observed, that one of the most 



CHAPTER IV. 83 

particular characteristics of this war, and of 
all those which followed it to 1813, was on the 
part of Napoleon, a prodigious activity, and an 
incontestible superiority of military talents; 
and on that of the allies, a tardiness and want 
of union in their measures, reciprocal distrust of 
each other, and a great want of skill in the most 
celebrated Prussian, Russian, and Austrian 
generals. All these causes tended to produce 
the bad success of the campaign of 1805, in 
which Austria was overpowered, almost with- 
out having fought, first, by the military genius 
of Napoleon, and, also by the imprudence of 
General Mack, the precipitation of the mili- 
tary movements ordered by the cabinet of 
Vienna, and the bad positions in which the 
Austrians were engaged from the very beginning 
of hostilities, There was another cause which 
had an influence on the rapid issue of this cam- 
paign. Prussia tacitly engaged in the coali- 
tion, but not daring to declare openly for it, 
waited for events, and continued to be very 
circumspect in its behaviour towards France. 

g 2 



i 



84 CHAPTER IV. 

The cabinet of Berlin would not allow the 
Russian troops to pass through its territory : 
accordingly the Emperor Alexander reached 
the Austrian army, only to be witness of the 
defeat of the corps of troops which he had sent 
to the assistance of Austria, and to see the 
total ruin of the army of that power, whose 
capita] was already in the possession of Napo- 
leon. 

Alexander repaired in all haste to Berlin, 
where he arrived on the 25th October, and 
was received by the court, and the inhabitants 
with every mark of real esteem and respect. 
He hoped to induce Frederic William III. to 
make common cause with him, and to attempt 
a great diversion in favour of Austria. The 
two monarchs, who, as we have before 
related, had an interview in 1802, had con- 
tracted an intimate friendship, which seems 
never to have varied. In the night of the 4th 
of November, Alexander left Potsdam, having 
first, in company with the king and queen, 



CHAPTER IV. 85 

visited at midnight, the tomb of Frederic II. 
overpowered by his feelings, Alexander saluted 
the coffin which contained the remains of the 
great king, and inspired with the most honorable 
intentions, gave his hand in this solemn place 
to the King of Prussia, as the pledge of invio- 
lable friendship. He travelled by way of Leip- 
zig to Weimar, thence to Dresden, where he 
arrived on the 11th of November, and on the 
18th, joined the Emperor Francis, at Olmutz, on 
the very day on which the second Russian 
army, under General Buxhovden, which had 
marched through South Prussia and Silesia, 
joined the first Russian army, under KutusorT, 
which was at Olmutz. 

Meantime, Austria appeared to have ac- 
quired, to repair its defeats, a degree of acti- 
vity, which it never had shewn before. The rem- 
nant of its army, and the Russian forces, com- 
manded by the Emperor Alexander, tried once 
more the fate of arms, under the orders of the 
two sovereigns. It was on the 2d of December, 



86 CHAPTER IV. 

1805, that Napoleon gained the memorable 
battle of ilusterlitz, which rendered him master 
of the fate of the House of Austria, 

After the battle, Napoleon fixed his head- 
quarters at AusterJitz, On the 4th of Decem- 
ber, he went to his advanced posts, where he 
bivouacked, and in the afternoon had an inter- 
view with the Emperor of Austria, They 
agreed upon the terms of an armistice, and at 
the same time determined the principal condi- 
tions of peace, which was to be concluded in 
a few days. An armistice was also concluded 
with the Emperor of Russia, who, having taken 
leave of the Emperor Francis, set out on the 
6th of December to return to St. Petersburg. 
He ordered his troops to leave the Austrian 
dominions and return to Russia, without having 
acceded to the treaty between France and 
Austria. " His only object" said the Petersburg 
court Gazette, " had been to assist his ally, 
and to avert the dangers which threatened his 
empire." But the exhausted resources of the 



CHAPTER IV. 87 

court of Vienna, the reverses it had met with, 
and want of provisions, had obliged the empe- 
ror to conclude a convention with France, 
which must soon be followed by peace ; the 
Russian troops therefore seemed to be no 
longer necessary. On the 8th of December, the 
Russian army commenced its march in three 
columns. However it did not take the shortest 
way to Russia, but proceeded to Prussian Si- 
lesia, and the Grand Duke Constantine with 
Prince Dolgorucki, went to Berlin, to declare 
in the name of the emperor, that the Russian 
army, in conformity with the treaty, was at the 
disposal of the King* of Prussia. It was not 
till the following February that the Russians 
marched from Silesia. 

The speedy and disastrous termination of the 
war in Austria, baffled all the calculations of 
the allies, whose operations in other quarters 
were rendered useless, or even served to afford 
Napoleon pretext for further aggrandizement. 
A corps of British and Russian troops which 



88 CHAPTER IV. 

was collected in the north of Germany, effected 
nothing ; and an army of between twenty and 
thirty thousand Russians and English having 
landed at Naples, and been well received by 
the king, Napoleon addressed a proclamation, 
27th December, to the army, which was to 
march, under his brother Joseph, against Na- 
ples. In this proclamation he announced, in a 
few words, " The Dynasty of Naples has ceased 
to reign." 

Notwithstanding the hard conditions of the 
peace, Austria did not lose much of its real 
power in Germany ; but a fatal blow was 
struck against its domination in Italy. Prussia 
was placed by the armistice in a most critical 
situation. Confiding in Austria and Russia, it 
had caused its army to advance to the frontiers ; 
and, in the middle of November, Count Haug- 
witz, the minister of state, was sent to the 
French head quarters with proposals. He was 
not admitted to see Napoleon till after the bat- 
tle of Austerlitz, when any proposals that he 



CHAPTER IV. 89 

could make must come too late. He appears 
to have been in great embarrassment how to 
proceed ; and, in the end, signed, on the 15th 
of December, at Vienna, a convention, by which 
Hanover was given up to Prussia, in exchange for 
Neufchatel, &c. This convention, advantageous 
as it might seem at first sight, by so desirable 
an accession as the Electorate of Hanover, was, 
in fact, as unprofitable, as disgraceful to the 
Prussian government, which, thus aggrandised 
itself at the expense of its ally, the King of 
England ; the natural consequence of which 
was, to engage it in a war with England, to 
alienate Russia, and to place itself in the 
power of the French emperor, who did not 
forget what Prussia had intended, though he 
thought fit to dissemble, because it was his 
interest. 



90 



CHAPTER V. 

1808 and 1807.— In all the coalitions against 
France, since the revolution, Russia had always 
been most closely united with England ; and, 
whatever had happened at times, in opposition 
to this union, through a change in the personal 
sentiments of the Russian monarch, it might 
easily be foretold that the connexion would in 
fact continue so long as Russia should be in 
want of British gold and British merchandise. 

The natural policy of Russia, but perhaps 
not so much as the mild and humane spirit of 
Alexander, manifested itself in the war against 
France, in 1805. It shewed itself more clearly 
in the conduct observed after the peace of 
Presburg, and appeared completely in its true 
shape at the conclusion of the treaty at Tilsit. 



CHAPTER V. 91 

The defeat at Austerlitz had, indeed, severely 
hurt the Russian pride, but not humbled it. 
They could not deny that they had been 
beaten ; but the loss of the battle was readily 
ascribed to the ally, whom the high-minded 
Russian monarch had hastened to assist. It 
could not be denied, that the remains of the 
army were obliged, after the loss of the battle, 
to return home by a prescribed route ; but 
detailed accounts endeavoured to make the 
world believe, that the loss had not been so 
considerable as to render the retreat absolutely 
necessary, and that with the aid of the reserve, 
which was advancing, the contest might have 
been renewed with success. But the result 
was an historical fact. The military genius of 
Napoleon, supported by the superior skill of 
his army, and the experience of his generals, 
had decidedly triumphed over the blind valour 
of the Russian troops, (and the antiquated tac- 
tics of their commanders. The Russian armies 
were obliged to retreat, if they would not be 
destroyed in the plains of Moravia. The 



i 



92 CHAPTER V. 

ancient and inveterate hatred was still more 
inflamed, and was shown most clearly in the 
new regulations for the exercises of the Russian 
troops, which were diligently trained in shoot- 
ing at a mark ; for which purpose, figures of 
French soldiers, painted on wood, were used ; 
while the hussars and cossacks were exercised 
in striking off the heads of figures stuffed with 
straw, made to resemble Frenchmen. The 
public, who never looked below the surface, 
were taught to consider it as a splendid proof 
of the magnanimity of the Russian monarch 
towards Prussia, which was so severely blamed, 
that Alexander had sent to his friend, Frederic 
William the Third, the declaration that he 
released him from his promise to act against 
France ; but if he was still disposed to do so, 
all the Russian troops in Hanover, under Tol- 
stoy, and those marching through Silesia, under 
Benningsen, were at his disposal ; these generals 
having received orders, punctually to obey 
the directions of the King of Prussia. It was 
evident to persons who reflected a little, that 



CHAPTER V. 93 

Prussia could make no use of this apparently 
generous declaration. Would Benningsen and 
Tolstoy have served under Prussian generals? 
and how could Prussia declare against Napo- 
leon, who, with the rapidity of lightning, could 
fall upon Silesia and Moravia, which were de- 
fenceless, while the Prussian armies were at a 
distance, about Gottingen, Gotha, &c. ? The 
offer, however, had so much effect, that Fred- 
eric William, importuned by those about him, 
sent the Duke of Brunswick to St. Petersburg, 
to form a closer union with Russia. On the 
return of the duke to Berlin, persons who were 
well informed, knew with certainty that war 
with France had been resolved upon ; and the 
success of a fourth coalition against France 
was now to be tried. 

In contemplation of this event, extraordinary 
exertions were made to improve the organiza- 
tion and equipment of the Russian Army, and 
great pains were taken to imitate the tactics of 
the French. A new levy was ordered, to 



I 



94 CHAPTER V. 

increase the army to 500.000 men: great 
magazines were formed ; the workmen in the 
celebrated manufactory of arms, were employed 
day and night, and old field-marshal Kamensky 
was appointed commander in chief of the army, 
which with the exception of the troops sta- 
tioned on the frontiers of Persia, marched partly 
to those of Turkey, and partly, to those of 
Prussia. The spirit and the organisation of 
this army are equally characteristic. 

The officers, as well as the soldiers, considered 
themselves as masters and proprietors of the 
country, through which they marched, whether 
it belonged to their allies, or to the enemy. The 
regiments which came from the interior of 
Russia, had no idea whatever of a regular 
system of quartering the men. The generals, 
officers, and privates, took up their abode in 
the houses which pleased them most. The pro- 
prietor became their servant and attendant, and 
he would have fared very badly if he had con- 
sidered, or used the furniture, household uten- 



CHAPTER V. • 95 

sils, Sec. as his own property, so long as his 
foreign guests remained with him. Each regi- 
ment was preceded on its march by fifty 
singers, taken at random from the multitude; 
these were followed by some of their comrades 
armed with cudgels, who, by very comprehen- 
sible arguments refreshed the voices of those 
who became weary. Brandy was the soul of 
these hosts. Blind obedience, and that savage 
valour which rushes without fear upon the ene- 
my, and even when overcome, obstinately holds 
out to the last breath, remained their peculiar 
characteristics. With these talents for war 
they had been conquerors in almost all the 
battles with the Turks, and the Persians. They 
hoped to be equally successful against the 
enemy whom they had been taught to hate, and 
to despise. 

It is entirely beside our purpose to enter 
upon the details of this disastrous war, on 
which so much has already been written, and 
we shall therefore give only a slight outline of 



96 CHAPTER V. 

the military occurrences, till the termination 
of hostilities by the peace, concluded in the 
following year. 

Though a treaty of peace between Russia 
and France had been signed at Paris, on the 
20th July, the Emperor of Russia refused to 
ratify it, under the pretext that his plenipoten- 
tiary Mr. Oubril had departed from his instruc- 
tions. The truth is that the Russian cabinet 
had commenced this negociation, only to gain 
time, and to afford Prussia leisure for com- 
pleting its preparations for war. For more than 
eight months there had been only a reciprocal 
exchange of diplomatic deceptions between the 
cabinets of Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Paris. 
Napoleon had been informed by a Prussian ge- 
neral of all the transactions between Alexander 
and the King of Prussia, of the oath taken at the 
tomb of Frederic the Second, of the treaty 
signed by the two monarchs on the 1 st October, 
1805, and the additional convention of the third 
of November following. Napoleon therefore 



CHAPTER V. 97 

had reason to consider Prussia as his secret 
enemy, against whose attacks it was proper to 
be prepared. Prussia rushed into the war with 
unexampled temerity, single-handed, without 
allowing time for its most powerful ally, the 
Emperor of Russia, to come to its support. 
The first hostilities took place on the 9th of 
October, 1 806, and within a month after, the 
Prussian monarchy might be said to have ceased 
to exist. All the Prussian generals laid down 
their arms. Ignominious defeats and still more 
ignominious capitulations of the fortresses, pro- 
claimed the weakness and the inability of the 
ministers and general officers of that nation. 

Prussia has no reason to reproach Austria 
with incapacity and humiliation. The battle of 
Jena was more decisive in itself, and more fatal 
in its results, than even that of Austerlitz. 
Alexander had promised the King of Prussia to 
assist him with all his forces, but the Russian 
army arrived too late. The Russian troops had 
scarcely reached the frontiers of Germany 

H 



98 CHAPTER V. 

when they hastily retreated, and took up a 
position behind the Vistula. Napoleon fol- 
lowed them, attacked them at Pultusk and 
Golymin and obliged the Emperor Alexander to 
fight the battle of Eylau, February the 8th, ] 807, 
in which the loss on both sides was immense. 
But the French army remained masters of the 
field of battle ; after which, the military opera- 
tions were suspended till the spring. But 
during this interval, numerous reinforcements 
arrived from France, to fill up the vacancy 
which so many battles had made in the great 
army: so that it had never been more formida- 
ble than when Napoleon led it to fight the 
battle of Friedland, the 14th of June. He 
completely defeated the Russian and Prussian 
armies, which suffered an enormous loss, and 
were obliged to retreat behind the Niemen. 
An armistice being concluded, iUexander and 
Napoleon had an interview in a tent, erected up- 
on a raft in the middle of the Niemen. They 
afterwards took up their head quarters, in the 
town of Tilsit, where they settled preliminaries 



CHAPTER V. 



99 



of peace, which were signed on the 7th of July, 
with Russia, and on the 9th, with Prussia. 
The King of Prussia was indebted to the earnest 
intercession of Alexander, for being re-esta- 
blished on his throne, which he purchased with 
the loss of half his dominions, retaining the 
other half upon conditions so onerous that it 
was scarcely possible to fulfil them. 

The result of this war, exposed to Europe 
the weakness of the Prussian monarchy. Fre- 
deric II. had given it a degree of splendour 
which raised it to the rank of a power of the 
first order. But this power lay in the genius of 
the great king, and not in the intrinsic strength 
of the state. In fact, from the battle of Jena to the 
peace of Tilsit, we meet with nothing to justify 
the high military reputation which Frederic II. 
had left to Prussia, nor can we find in modern 
history any example of such profound and 
lasting humiliation and disgrace, as that which 
was incurred by the Prussian generals during 
this war. 5 

h 2 



100 CHAPTER V. 

Alexander recognised, by the treaty of Til- 
sit, all the new kingdoms established by Napo- 
leon, and his appropriations of territory which 
had taken place up to that time, and even those 
which he might think fit to decree in future. 

Perhaps there is no instance in history, of such 
a sudden change, not only in the councils, but 
apparently even in the personal sentiments of a 
great sovereign, as was manifested in those of 
Alexander, at the conclusion of the treaty of 
Tilsit, and in his subsequent conduct. From 
being the most determined enemy of Napoleon, 
he became at once his greatest admirer, and his 
warmest friend : ready, as it afterwards ap- 
peared, to second the plans of the French 
emperor against his own allies. By the treaty 
which compelled Prussia to give up Poland, 
the province of Bialystock, with 184,000 inha- 
bitants, was ceded to Russia; which, on the 
other hand, gave up Jever to Holland. In a 
secret article, Russia promised to join France 
against England ; to maintain the independence 



CHAPTER V. 101 

of the neutral flags; and to induce Sweden, 
Denmark, and Portugal, to adopt the same 
system: it likewise engaged to withdraw its 
troops from Moldavia and Wallachia; and to 
make peace with Turkey, through the mediation 
of Napoleon. At Tilsit, Alexander appeared 
desirous of publicly appearing as the friend of 
Napoleon, of which some remarkable instances 
have been recorded ; though, as they chiefly 
rest upon French authority, implicit credit 
ought perhaps not be given to them. On one 
occasion he is reported to have addressed Na- 
poleon with the following verse : 

" L'amitie d'un grand homme est un present des dieux." 

The two sovereigns conversed with the 
greatest familiarity on the organisation and the 
administration of their dominions. Alexander 
explained to Napoleon the nature of the Rus- 
sian government. He spoke of his senate, and 
of the resistance which he experienced in his 
attempts to do good. Napoleon, grasping his 



i 



102 CHAPTER V. 

hand, immediately replied, " However large 
an empire may be, it is always too little for 
two masters." The head and the heart of 
Napoleon are seen at once in these words, 
which are impressed with the stamp of des- 
potism : — Machiavel himself could not have 
said better. We relate this fact because we 
have very good reason to believe that it is 
authentic. 6 

At the interview of the two monarchs, before 
the final conclusion of the peace at Tilsit, Na- 
polean wishing to say something mortifying to 
the Emperor Alexander, said to him, "Your 
majesty is the handsomest man I have ever 
seen." Alexander answered, "I am sorry that 
I cannot say, que votre majeste soit le plus 
grand homme que j'aie vu." Another time, 
when Napoleon repeated the same thing, for 
he was accustomed to repetition, the emperor 
said to him, " Sire, SuwarrofF was the hand- 
somest man of my army at Zurich." 6 * 



103 



CHAPTER VI. 

The treaty of Tilsit, advantageous and honor- 
able to Buonaparte as it appeared to be, has 
been considered by many judicious politicians 
as the first cause of his ruin. Intoxicated with 
ambition and glory, he sacrificed Poland, which 
all the interests of France, the independence of 
Germany, and the political balance of Europe, 
imperiously called upon him to re-establish as 
a kingdom, in order to serve as a barrier against 
the gigantic power of Russia. Alexander left 
Tilsit, after having recovered all his prepon- 
derance in the Baltic and the Black Sea, having 
lost nothing in Poland, and being always able 
to pass the frontiers of Germany. 

While the Russian colossus extended one 
arm towards the west of Europe, the other 



104 CHAPTER VI. 

weighed less powerfully on the east and south. 
The war with the tribes on the Persian fron- 
tier continued with fluctuating success. Prince 
Zizianow, the commander-in-chief, who, from 
the year 1802, had conducted the war in 
Georgia, and on the frontiers of Caucasus, with 
great ability, announced in his report of the 
8th of January, 1806, that the Chanate of 
Schirwan was incorporated with the Russian 
empire. The army, he said, had gone into 
winter quarters about Erivan, and would soon 
march to Bak, to assist Major-General Sawa- 
lischin against Gussein-Kuli Chan. But Zizi- 
anow there met his death, through the blackest 
treachery. Kuli Chan required that the Rus- 
sian general should ride in person to the gates 
of Bak, to receive the keys. Zizianow con- 
sented ; and, accompanied only by Prince 
Eristow and one cossack, hastened to meet the 
assassin, who was on horseback, before the 
gate of the town, and really delivered the 
keys ; but, at the same moment, a Persian, 
placed behind the chan, shot the Russian ge- 



CHAPTER VI. 105 

neral from his horse. The other Persians fell 
upon him with their sabres, mangled him in a 
dreadful manner, and dragged his dead body 
into the town. 

Ali Chan, of Derbent, had participated in 
this shameful deed. A Russian corps, under 
Lieutenant- General Glasenap, having crossed 
the Terek and marched against Derbent, Ali 
Chan prepared to defend himself. But the 
inhabitants of Derbent expelled their tyrant, 
and brought the keys of their city to the Rus- 
sian general, who entered on the 3rd of July, 
amidst general rejoicings. This, however, did 
not terminate the campaign ; for several chiefs 
of the Caucasian tribes joined together, to 
make a decisive attack upon the Russian 
troops on several points. Abbas Mirza had, 
for this purpose, crossed the Arais with 20,000 
men, but was attacked by Major-General Ne- 
bossin, and driven back to the Arais with the 
loss of several thousand killed and wounded. 
The other princes were also defeated ; and the 



106 CHAPTER VI. 

Russians, according to the official reports, were 
again masters of the whole country. 

Though it is not possible to give an accurate 
account of such a predatory warfare, it is evi- 
dent that if the Russian troops, by their supe- 
rior discipline and experience, were generally 
successful, the warlike tribes and their chiefs, 
did not bow to the Russian sceptre. The 
sovereigns of Persia required only some power- 
ful foreign assistance, to prove the most danger- 
ous enemies to Russia. At least they might 
ruin the Russian caravan trade, and even 
impede the communications of the eastern pro- 
vinces with the centre of the empire, as well 
as greatly obstruct the trade with China. 

In comparison with the great events in 
Prussia and Poland, the war between Turkey 
and Russia may be considered merely as an 
episode. The deference of the Porte towards 
Russia, was the result of fear, founded on the 
bitter experience of forty years. As soon, 



CHAPTER VI. 107 

therefore, as Sultan Selim's fears were a little 
moderated by external events, he resolved to 
take other measures, which were powerfully 
supported by his mother, who had been gained 
over by Sebastiani. A Turkish ambassador 
was sent to Napoleon, whom he found at Ber- 
lin, which he had entered victorious. There 
was now reason to hope that Napoleon would 
soon co-operate with the Turks, and the French 
government announced with great detail, the mi- 
litary preparations making at Constantinople. 
The Porte, in fact, declared war against Russia, 
prohibited the ships of all nations from pass- 
ing the channel of Constantinople, and would 
have imprisoned the Russian ambassador in the 
seven towers, had he not escaped by timely 
flight, Russia, which had undoubtedly hoped 
to induce the Porte to join it through fear, was 
much embarrassed by this unexpected resolu- 
tion of the Turkish government, as the troops 
which, at the end of the year 1806, were sta- 
tioned at Bucharest, might have been em- 
ployed to much more advantage at Pultusk. 



108 CHAPTER VI. 

Of the 80,000 Russians with whom Michelson 
had crossed the Dniester, General Essen had 
been obliged to withdraw with a third part to 
oppose the French upon the Bug. The chief 
support of the Russians was the insurrection of 
the Servians under Czerny George, who took 
Belgrade by capitulation the 31st of January. 
The Greek inhabitants of Moldavia and Wal- 
lachia also looked upon the Russians as friends. 
Selim III. with all his exertions could oppose 
but a small army to the Russians, and had 
Russia been able to employ a sufficient force 
against the Porte, its overthrow at this time 
would have been inevitable. 

France afforded its ally but little aid in its 
critical situation. A few officers, especially 
engineers, with some artillerymen, w^ent to 
Constantinople, where they put the Dardanelles 
in a better state of defence, but could not hin- 
der the Russian Admiral Siniavin, from de 
feating the Turkish fleet off Tenedos, and 
making himself master of that important 



CHAPTER VI. 109 

island. The Turks experienced a similar mis- 
fortune on the 1st of July, atLemnos. It was not 
till the spring that a French corps approached 
from Dalmatia towards the frontiers of fBosnia 
but it was by no means quick in its operations. 
Napoleon, however, derived great advantage 
from this war, which divided the force of 
Russia. The peace at Tilsit restored tran- 
quillity in Turkey also, for a truce was con- 
cluded at Slobosia, on the 24th of August, 
which was to continue till the 3rd of April, 
1808 ; and in which the Servians were included. 
The terms of this armistice, as far as the Ser- 
vians were concerned, were such as nothing 
could have extorted from the Porte, but abso- 
lute inability to continue the contest, with any 
prospect of advantage. In fact, the rebellions 
in the interior of the empire, the naval victo- 
ries of the Russians, the war with England, 
and the terror excited by the appearance of the 
English fleet before Constantinople, though it 
had retired without effecting its object, ap- 



110 CHAPTER VI. 

peared to have shaken the Turkish empire to 
its foundation. 

Alexander, who in November 1806, wrote 
the remarkable words, " I will do my utmost 
that the Prussian dominions may not lose even 
a village," had in July 1807, not only given up 
to the enemy, the half of the Prussian states, 
but even consented to incorporate a part of the 
Prussian territory with his own dominions. It 
is possible that he may have been influenced 
by many considerations, which were no subject 
for public communications and army bulletins, 
for every thing indicated that the genius, and 
the art of Napoleon had gained, not only the 
sovereign of the Russian empire, but what was, 
perhaps, of more importance, acquired his ad- 
miration and good will, as an individual. Alex- 
ander could hardly dissemble to himself that 
he must necessarily appear in the eyes of all 
Europe, as a weak, vain, and fickle prince, if 
he did not prove by energy and perseverance, 



CHAPTER VI. Ill 

in promoting the plans of Napoleon which he 
had adopted, that higher political objects con- 
firmed him in his new friendship ; that they 
alone had compelled him to sacrifice his faith- 
ful friend, and to impose silence on the sugges- 
tions of his heart. 

The peace with France was announced in a 
lofty tone to the people of Russia, as advan- 
tageous and glorious for the Russian arms. 
The emperor was received in Petersburg with 
acclamations, which the journals did not fail 
to speak of in detail. But they said nothing of 
the suppressed murmurings of the nobles, of the 
secret execrations of the merchants of the capi- 
tal, who were enriched by the trade with Eng- 
land, and of the measures taken by the land- 
owners in the Baltic provinces, to continue to 
sell their corn at high prices to the English, as 
heretofore. 

Though the war was concluded, the troops 
which were to march into the interior received 



112 CHAPTER VI. 

orders to halt, and several regiments were soon 
brought nearer to the coasts of the Baltic, in 
order to protect them from any attempts of 
the English ; a war with whom was doubtless 
considered as inevitable. An ukase of the 5th 
of August 1807, ordered that the wives of 
generals, staff and superior officers, who had 
fallen in the late war, or had died afterwards of 
their wounds, should enjoy a pension equal to 
the full pay of their husbands, and after the 
death of the wives, the pensions were to be con- 
tinued to the sons till their sixteenth year, and 
to the daughters till their marriage. These 
liberal ordinances of the government, perhaps 
abated the discontent, excited by other mea- 
sures : especially those which obstructed com- 
merce and navigation. 

The differences with England, which at 
length terminated in open war, inspired serious 
apprehensions. It seemed that Russia, before 
it began the contest, ought to take into consi- 
deration the state of its naval force, and its 



CHAPTER VI. 113 

means of successfully contending with Eng- 
land. The balance of trade with that country 
was wholly in favour of Russia, and war must 
be accompanied with immense loss ; yet the 
influence of France prevailed, and Count Ro- 
manzoff, an adherent of the French system, 
was appointed minister of foreign affairs. The 
fleet, though numerous and respectable, was 
little able to contend with that of England, 
especially being divided into two distinct por- 
tions, one in the Baltic, the other in the Black 
Sea and the Mediterranean. 

Meantime the secret articles of the treaty of 
Tilsit, by which Sweden and Denmark were to 
be compelled to declare against England* and 
their fleets to be placed at the disposal of 
France, having been disclosed to the English 
government, the latter resolved to anticipate 
this hostile intention, by striking the first 
blow. A most formidable expedition was 
fitted out, which suddenly appeared before 
Copenhagen, and peremptorily demanded that 

i 



J 14 CHAPTER #p 

the Danish government should conclude a strict 
alliance with England, and give up its whole 
•fleet, to be kept as a pledge of its fidelity, till 
the general peace, because the English govern- 
ment had positive information, that Denmark 
would be compelled by France to declare war. 
This assertion of Mr. Jackson, the English am- 
bassador, was declared by Count BernstorfT, 
upon his honour, to be unfounded, no propo- 
sal having been made by France, contrary to 
the neutrality of Denmark. Yet it can scarcely 
be imagined that the British ministers would 
have undertaken, out of mere wantonness, to 
fit out a most expensive expedition, the result 
of which, even if successful, could be attended 
with little advantage, while the ruin of an in- 
offensive state, the destruction of a great city, 
and the sacrifice of thousands of innocent lives, 
could not fail to excite general indignation 
throughout Europe, to give additional weight 
to the arguments of our enemies, and to affix 
an indelible stigma on the English name. 



CHAPTER VI. 115 

Whatever may have been the real grounds 
for the proceedings of the British government, 
the attack upon Denmark, and the deplorable 
consequences which resulted from its refusal 
to submit to the terms dictated by England, 
till a resistance as disastrous as it was honour- 
able, had reduced it to extremity, afforded 
Alexander a plausible pretext for his declara- 
tion of the 16th of October, 1807, in which he 
first reproached the English cabinet for its 
tardiness in assisting Russia and Prussia/ and 
with having acted hostilely towards the Rus- 
sian naval commerce, at the very time when the 
blood of the Russians flowed for the interest of 
England, in the war with France. England, he 
said, had rejected every offer made by Russia 
to mediate for the conclusion of peace, and had 
undertaken a piratical expedition against Den- 
mark ; all which necessarily provoked the in- 
dignation of Russia; Alexander, therefore, de- 
clared that he suspended all communication 
with England, recalled his ambassador, desired 
not to have an English ambassador at his Court, 

i 2 



116 CHAPTER VI. 

confirmed the principles of the armed neutrality, 
and engaged never to depart from that system. 
He demanded satisfaction for all the ships and 
merchandise belonging to his subjects, which 
had been detained contrary to treaty, and pro- 
tested that he never would have the smallest 
connexion with England, till Denmark was in- 
demnified. How all these solemn engagements 
were kept, will appear in the sequel ; and we 
may judge how far the horror expressed by 
Alexander at the injustice of England in at- 
tacking Denmark, was sincere, when we re- 
flect on his own conduct in declaring war 
against his ally, and brother- in-law, the King of 
Sweden, and wresting from him a great portion 
of his dominions, because he remained faithful 
to the system which Alexander himself had 
abandoned. 



117 



CHAPTER V1L 

1808. — Russia having happily terminated the 
dangerous contest with France, the peace of 
the continent of Europe appeared to be per- 
manently established, by the personal friend- 
ship of the two most powerful sovereigns, when 
this very friendship led to a new war, which 
changed the face of the north, the true inter- 
ests of which were forgotten, and in obedience 
to foreign influence and intrigue, the last weak 
pillars of the political system and balance of 
power in Europe, were overthrown. What 
reasons, it may be asked, did the sovereign of 
Russia find in the true interest of the nations 
which obey his sceptre, to begin this war with 
his friend and ally ? A view of the elements of 
the power of the Russian empire may enable us 



H8 CHAPTER VII. 

to form some opinion of the policy of this con- 
duct. 

The Russian empire contains about seven 
millions of square miles., of which about one- 
fourth part is extremely fertile. The popula- 
tion increases, as we have before stated, in a 
very rapid proportion. Nearly seven-eighths 
of this population dwell on this side of the 
Ural ; four or five millions only being scattered 
over the large extent of Asiatic Russia ; which 
may be considered as a vast domain, affording 
abundant resources for commerce, while the 
real power of the empire, resides in the west- 
ern, or European provinces. 

The mass of the nation, the genuine Russians, 
still bears, in a very great degree, the stamp 
of northern barbarism. They are a vigorous 
race, but rude, slavishly governed by the 
knout, almost contented with their melancholy 
degradation, grossly superstitious, and even 
without a notion of a better condition. The 



CHAPTER VII. H$ 

word of their priests, the images of their saints, 
and the brandy bottle are their idols. The in- 
habitants of Esthonia, Livonia., and Lithuania, 
appear equally degraded by the vassalage of 
the peasants. The Russian Pole resembles 
them in wretchedness, uncleanliness, and igno- 
rance, but has, however, some idea of a better 
state of things, of which they are destitute. 
The Tartar, in elevation of mind, is superior to 
them all. 

It is evident, that these rude, unpolished 
men, are excellent machines in the field of bat- 
tle. But they cannot be said to possess genu- 
ine valour ; which is always accompanied by 
greatness of mind. Their bravery, is savage 
fury in the battle, passive obedience and invin- 
cible obstinacy, not to leave the spot on which 
the order of their commander has placed them. 
Where such a people come as conquerors, they 
trample on the existing civilisation ; where there 
is none, it will certainly not spring up under 
their feet. 



120 CHAPTER VII. 

Alexander had begun, as we have already 
intimated, to soften the rudeness of his people 
by abolishing vassalage, and by improving the 
schools. This is a difficult work to carry into 
execution through the whole empire ; for ninety 
three nations, with more than forty different 
languages inhabit that vast dominion, look with 
equal reverence towards the throne in the 
north, and listen with humility to the language 
of the ukases. But ukases are not sufficient to 
fructify the deeply hidden germs of humanity. 
There is indeed no reason to complain of the 
Russian legislation since the time of Catha- 
rine, for she respected the rights of humanity, 
and granted in many points a degree of liberty, 
which is not exceeded by the constitution 
of France. Ail religions have perfect freedom 
throughout the empire. The christian, which 
is professed by thirty-seven millions of people, 
is indeed predominant ; and the Greek church, 
which is followed by the court, has the most 
numerous adherents. But the heathen Scka- 
mane dances unmolested to his magic drum, 



CHAPTER VII. 121 

and Jews and Mahometans have their public 
temples. The feudal system is unknown in 
Russia. The nobility have the titles of 
princes, counts, &c, but possess no principali- 
ties to make them rivals to the sovereign. 
Noblemen may follow respectable professions 
without losing their nobility, and the citizen 
purchase noble estates without becoming a 
nobleman. But a person not noble acquires 
the rights of nobility, and leaves them to his 
posterity, when he has risen to one of the first 
eight classes according to the Russian order of 
precedence. In this respect Russia has made a 
considerable advance before many other states • 
but a great contrast is afforded by the hard lot 
of vassalage, which still oppresses by far the 
greater part of the Russian nation. Thirty years 
ago the total number of free males was only 
1,084, 486, whereas there were 11,352,842 male 
vassals. Even in 1808, this melancholy pro- 
portion was but little changed, and the land was 
therefore but ill cultivated, for the blessing of 
heaven rests not on the labours of the slave. 



122 CHAPTER VI K 

The rearing of cattle is likewise in its infancy ; 
only the mines, where the knout governs, and 
in which an immense number of vassals are 
employed, afford a better profit. Whole tribes 
voluntarily devote themselves to hunting and 
fishing, and numerous criminals are compelled 
to pursue the former avocation. 

Mechanical trades have long been carried on 
in all the villages; properly speaking, there 
were no manufactories in Russia till the time of 
Peter the Great, but in the year 1 803 their 
number amounted to 2,393. On the 30th of 
June 1808, however, the minister of the interior 
published an invitation to able foreign cloth 
manufacturers and weavers, to settle in New 
Russia, offering them very great encourage- 
ment. 

From the official accounts of the Russian 
trade up to the treaty of Tilsit, it appeared to 
have been continually increasing, and nearly 
4,000 merchant ships, of which a fourth part 



CHAPTER VII. ]23 

were English, entered the ports of the empire ; 
but in 1808, the number that arrived in the 
eighteen most considerable ports was less than a 
thousand,of which only three hundred visited the 
ports of the Baltic. The revenues of the crown 
amounted to about 110,000,000 of rubles, and 
though no budget was ever published in Rus- 
sia, it may be presumed that the greater part 
of the revenue was expended on the army and 
navy. The former amounted to above four 
hundred thousand regular, and one hundred 
thousand irregular troops. The navy consisted 
of thirty-two ships of the line, eighteen frigates 
and sixty smaller ships of war, besides above 
two hundred galleys, carrying altogether five 
thousand six hundred guns, manned with 
thirty thousand seamen, and eight thousand 
marines. 

The ordinary resources of the state were not 
sufficient to put in motion this very great force 
in the different parts of the frontier that were 
threatened. The government had already been 



124 CHAPTER VII. 

obliged in the last war to call upon the rich, 
for extraordinary contributions, which they 
readily furnished in very great abundance, A 
new war at the opposite boundaries of the 
empire, added to the great loss caused by the 
stagnation of trade, must necessarily lead to 
new sacrifices;, for which even extensive con- 
quests might not afford a sufficient indemnity. 
The soundest policy for Russia was peace ; 
but as matters now stood, this great empire 
could no longer follow its own policy, but was 
obliged to make war according- to Napoleon's 
great plan 5 which was firmly arranged between 
the two emperors. 

Accordingly the King of Sweden, having' 
refused to follow the example of his brother-in- 
law Alexander, by acting against England, in 
support of Bonaparte's continental system, war 
was declared against him by Russia, and soon 
after by Denmark, and the Russian army under 
Count Buxhovden, entered Swedish Finland at 
Abberfors with a very superior force. The 



CHAPTER VII. 125 

Russian general issued proclamations, very 
much in the revolutionising spirit of France, 
inviting the Swedish army not to shed its blood 
an an unjust cause, but rather to lay down its 
arms, and return home enriched by Russian 
generosity. The inhabitants were exhorted 
peaceably to submit to Alexander's mild scep- 
tre, who would love Finland like a father, in 
the same manner as his other provinces. The 
King of Sweden incensed at this disgraceful 
manner of beginning war, with inviting his sub- 
jects to break their allegiance, issued a decla- 
ration against Russia, bitterly reproaching the 
faithlessness, meanness, and perfidy of its em- 
peror. But the bravery of. the Swedes, who 
under every disadvantage, fought with heroic 
valour, the alliance with England which sent 
12,000 men, who, however were not employed, 
could not avert the loss of Finland; which after 
various sanguinary combats, fell entirely into 
the possession of the Russians, and was incor- 
porated with the Russian empire. So great a 
loss to Sweden was by no means compensated 



126 CHAPTER VH. 

by some advantages gained with the help of 
England, over the Russian and Danish fleets. 
The former put into Baltic port on the coast of 
Esthonia when it was strictly blockaded by the 
English and Swedish fleets. It was here so 
advantageously situated that the blockading 
fleets could not venture to attack it ; and vio- 
lent storms having obliged them to stand off 
from the coast, the Russian fleet left its secure 
retreat, and disappointed the threats of destruc- 
tion which the King of Sweden had held out. 
The Russian fleet under Vice-Admiral Siniavan 
was not so fortunate. It had come from the 
Mediterranean to Lisbon, for the purpose of 
co-operating, to compel Portugal to declare 
against England, and had remained there, while 
the French were in possession of that city. It 
was obliged to capitulate to Admiral Cotton, a 
few days after the signing of the convention of 
Cintra, by which the French were obliged to 
evacuate Portugal. This fleet consisted of one 
ship of eighty guns, six of seventy-four, two of 



CHAPTER VII* 127 

sixty, and one of twenty-six, which were sent to 
England, and were to be restored to Russia six 
months after the conclusion of peace between 
the two powers. The officers and crews were 
not prisoners of war, but were sent to Russia 
at the expense of England. Meantime the 
discontent of the Swedes at the unfortunate 
war daily increased ; the nobles of the party of 
the Duke of Sudermania grew more powerful, 
and everything was already preparing for the 
revolution, which in the following year preci- 
pitated the unfortunate Gustavus IV. from the 
throne. 

To Russia, on the other hand, the acquisition 
of Finland was of the highest importance, as it 
secured its ascendancy in the Baltic. It is 
considered as one of the greatest political faults 
of Napoleon, that he suffered Russia to make 
itself master of this formidable bulwark of the 
north. But Russia permitted him, at the same 
lime, to dethrone the King of Spain, and to 



128 i CHAPTER VII. 

place the crown of that kingdom on the head 
of his brother Joseph. Nay, Alexander still 
placed so much confidence, as it appears, in 
the honourable policy of Napoleon, that he 
eagerly acceded to the proposal to meet him 
at Erfurth, that they might there discuss toge- 
ther the interests of Europe. Napoleon ar- 
rived in that city on the 27th of September, 
and the Emperor Alexander a few hours later. 
The Kings of Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurtem- 
berg, Jerome, King of Westphalia, and many 
other German princes, the Grand Duke Con- 
stantine, 8 and Prince William of Prussia, were 
assembled at Erfurth on this remarkable occa- 
sion ; as well as the ministers of state of most 
of those powers. Baron Vincent appeared in 
the name of the Emperor of Austria, with a 
letter, in which the emperor expressed his 
pacific sentiments towards France. 



Though Alexander and Napoleon were on 
such friendly terms, various little occurrences 



CHAPTER VII. 129 

at Erfurth shewed that their secret disposi- 
tions were not quite conformable to outward 
appearances : the following is one of the most 
piquant of them. 

When Napoleon was at Erfurth, he affected, 
one evening at a ball, to converse with the 
literati, particularly with Goethe; and, to 
make a contrast with the Emperor Alex- 
ander, who was dancing, he said to Goethe, 
loud enough for Alexander to hear, — " How 
well the Emperor Alexander dances." Alex- 
ander took his revenge by turning to Napoleon, 
who had a habit of beating time with his foot, 
and saying, " How ill your majesty beats 
time." Napoleon retired with Goethe into a 
corner of the room. 

The subjects discussed in the congress were 
the diminution of the contributions imposed by 
France upon Prussia, the reception of the Duke 
of Oldenburg into the confederation of the 
Rhine, the peace with England, the relations 

K 



130 CHAPTER VI L 

between France and Austria, and the affairs ol 
Turkey. To the proposal made to England, by 
Alexander and Napoleon, to conclude peace, 
the British government declared its readiness, 
if ambassadors from Sweden, and from the 
Spanish government, were admitted at the 
congress. But, as Napoleon would not make 
this concession to the Spanish nation, and was 
supported in his determination by Alexander, 
the negociations were entirely broken off in 
December. 

Meantime the congress at Erfurth separated 
on the 14th of October, after Napoleon had 
secured, as he thought, peace with Austria, 
and agreed with Alexander upon certain ar- 
rangements, the contents of which have never 
been made known, though it is supposed that 
the two emperors divided the supremacy of 
Europe between them ; Alexander to rule the 
north, and Napoleon the south, and determined 
on the partition of Turkey. They engaged 
rigorously to maintain the system of the con- 



CHAPTER VII. 131 

tinental blockade, in order to compel England 
to make peace. This system appeared to be 
well conceived, but it was evident that its ob- 
ject could not be attained, unless it were exe- 
cuted with the greatest strictness,, This, how- 
ever, would have been extremely injurious to 
the commercial interests of Russia. Alexander 
made some modifications in it, in conformity 
with that interest, which, however necessary, 
were considered by Napoleon as a violation of 
the treaties, of which he complained in no very 
measured terms. This was precisely what 
England wanted ; it skilfully took advantage of 
the embarrassment in which the Spanish war 
already placed France, to form a new conti- 
nental coalition ; the elements of which had 
been prepared with mysterious activity, and 
which was declared by a sudden attack of 
Austria. That power, in its manifesto, enume- 
rated a host of grievances, the sum and sub- 
stance of which was the insatiable ambition of 
Napoleon. Austria could depend on the sub- 
sidies of England, but the Russian cabinet 

k2 



132 



CHAPTER VII. 



appeared to be firmer than ever in its alliance 
with France, and ordered the Austrian diplo- 
matic agents to quit St. Petersburg, when fresh 
differences had broken out between France and 
Austria. Whether the cabinet of Vienna ex- 
pected any support from Russia, is not certain; 
for the course of its misfortunes was so rapid, 
that it would have been impossible to afford it 
any assistance. The battles of Eckmiihl and 
Ratisbon, the taking of Vienna, the battles of 
Esling and Wagram, again laid the Austrian 
monarchy at the mercy of Napoleon. Peace 
was again signed at Vienna, on the 14th of 
October, 1809. By this treaty, Austria ceded 
to Russia, in the eastern part of Gallicia, in 
ancient Poland, a territory containing a popu- 
lation of 420,000 souls; and Napoleon, who, 
by his treaty of alliance with Alexander, had 
put it out of his own power to re-establish the 
kingdom of Poland, committed a new fault in 
strengthening the natural enmity of that coun- 
try on the frontiers of the duchy of Warsaw. 



CHAPTER VII. 133 

It seems strange, though it cannot well be 
denied, as it is affirmed by the most strenuous 
advocates of Napoleon, that his judgment was 
blinded from the day that the Emperor of Aus- 
tria called him " my brother." He thought his 
throne and his dynasty secured for ages, when 
the Emperor Francis II. consented to give him 
the hand of the Archduchess Maria Louisa. 

The banks of the Danube were still dyed 
with the blood of thousands of soldiers of both 
parties, sacrificed to the enmity of their mas- 
ters, when the two sovereigns, actuated by 
meanness on the one hand, and ambition on the 
other, talked of uniting their families, and an 
archduchess was the price paid for the restitu- 
tion of some territory. But this illustrious and 
ill-omened marriage seemed to mark the culmi- 
nating point from which the fortune of Napo- 
leon was destined to decline. While the war, 
which his ambition had excited in Spain, was 
carried on by his generals, whose talents, 



i 



134 



CHAPTER VII. 



supported by the best troops of France, were 
baffled by the genius of Wellington, powerfully 
seconded by the noble resistance of the Spanish 
nation ; Russia quietly looked on, at the sacri- 
fices required by so impolitic a war. But in 
proportion as it became more disastrous to the 
French armies, the cabinet of St. Petersburg 
gradually relaxed the ties which bound it to 
the alliance with Napoleon ; who, pursuing, 
with more obstinacy than utility, his prohibitory 
system against England, caused his troops to 
occupy the duchy of Oldenburg, in the begin- 
ning of the year 1811, in order to complete the 
continental blockade along the coasts of the 
North Sea. This new usurpation was the sub- 
ject of a warm and just remonstrance on the 
part of the Emperor Alexander. 

1809 and 1810. — In the course of these two 
years various ameliorations continued to be 
made in the internal administration of the em- 
pire. A general diet for Finland was summoned 
to meet at Umeo, on the 10th of March, 1809, 



CHAPTER VII, 135 

to which the emperor repaired in person, and a 
council of government for that province was 
organised. A remarkable ordinance of the 3rd 
of April prescribed, that all the chamberlains 
should choose, within two months, some kind 
of active service. " Their titles," said the or- 
dinance, " should henceforth be only a distinc-* 
tion at court, and not confer either military or 
civil rank." An ukase of the 6th of August 
ordered that every person who wished to 
advance in the civil service, must undergo 
the prescribed academical examinations, in 
languages, jurisprudence, history, and mathe- 
matics ; for every one should be promoted 
according to the nature of the certificate given 
of his ability. The commission, appointed five 
years before, to draw up a new code for the 
Russian empire, and which had cost a hundred 
thousand rubles annually, received a new or- 
ganization. Further progress was made towards 
abolishing the slavery of the peasants. It 
appears indeed that some greater alleviation of 
their condition was necessary, especially in the 



136 CHAPTER VII. 

frontier provinces, where the spirit of emigra- 
tion had spread in such a degree that it was 
necessary to publish an ukase against it. By 
another ordinance all gypsies in the empire 
were to be compelled to choose a fixed abode. 

The trade of the empire suffered severely by 
the war with England ; and, with all the wis- 
dom and energy of the government, it could 
not be denied that Russia was extremely weak- 
ened by the war in the preceding year. The 
armies had indeed been victorious against the 
Swedes, Turks, and Persians, and the acquisi- 
tion of the fine district irt Gallicia cost nothing 
but proclamations to the inhabitants, and some 
forced marches, to get possession of the capital, 
Cracow, before the victorious Poles. But the 
most successful war sensibly diminishes the 
strength of so thinly peopled a country ; and 
this was doubly felt, when, by an ukase of the 
29th of September 1809, a new levy of one man 
from every hundred males was ordered to com- 
plete the army and navy. 



CHAPTER VII. , 137 

In 1810 the government adopted many judi 
clous measures to promote the internal prospe- 
rity of the empire, but all these could not remove 
the financial embarrassments, or remedy the de- 
preciation of the paper currency ; and it was in 
fact evident to the unprejudiced observer, that 
the political power of Russia was rather im- 
posing at a distance, than real and firmly con- 
solidated in itself; that the great empire 
required a radical reform in its interior; and 
that all its splendid triumphs and conquests 
could not cure the cancer which preyed upon its 
vitals. The trade of the empire was in a dan- 
gerous crisis : the ancient connections with 
England were not entirely broken off, but very 
much fettered ; for it was necessary to follow, 
in appearance at least, the continental system. 
But the advantages of the contraband trade, in 
the ports of the Baltic and the White Sea, were 
reaped by private persons, and not by the 
government. Russia clearly inclined to its old 
connections, and the general voice of their 
country proclaimed that the empire could not 



138 CHAPTER VII. 

prosper unless they were renewed. The public 
statements of rigorous adherence to the conti- 
nental system, were looked upon as mere blinds, 
and the public considered in this light both the 
ordinance of the 22nd of May, respecting the 
trade with Brazil, which prohibited provision- 
ally the importation of produce from Portugal, 
and the imperial rescript, confiscating the car- 
goes of many ships from TenerifTe. All the 
external relations with France and its allies 
seemed to promise a durable peace. Only the 
old quarrel with the Porte was not terminated, 
and though the sovereign of Persia was induced 
by the English ambassador Mr. Morier, to 
commence hostilities with Russia, that empire, 
considering the superiority of its armies in 
numbers and skill, had nothing to fear from 
such enemies. There were indeed several very 
sanguinary actions, and obstinate sieges in Bess- 
arabia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, but fortune 
was on the side of the Russians and their Ser- 
vian allies ; so that the Turks were induced in 
October to enter into negociations for an armi- 



CHAPTER VII. 139 

stice. The Russians were equally successful 
against the Persians in several actions, which 
however were of little importance either in 
themselves or in their consequences. 



140 



CHAPTER VIII, 

1811. — Though the finances of Russia were 
very much embarrassed by the late expensive 
wars, the empire possessed immense resources, 
the judicious employment of which, combined 
with strict economy in the administration, would 
soon make up for the falling off of the revenue. 
Thus, for instance, the mines belonging to the 
crown and to private persons, produced annu- 
ally, above thirty millions of rubles. The go- 
vernment alone had a clear profit of above six 
millions and a half of rubles, while its expenses 
were less than two hundred thousand rubles. 
On the 25th of February, this year, an imperial 
manifesto, signed by Count RomanzofF, the 
chancellor of the empire, announced that by 
the decisive measures which had been adopted, 
the permanent revenues had been increased 



CHAPTER VIII. 141 

above one hundred millions of rubles, and that 
the government was able, not only to meet all 
the expenees of the year without new taxes, 
but even to reduce some of the old ones. 

A new commercial ordinance was published, 
which, together with the new tariff of customs, 
was designed to promote the national manufac- 
tures, by encouraging exportation and checking 
the importation of foreign produce and manu- 
factures, by rigorous prohibitions or heavy 
duties. The maritime trade presented a great 
falling off, compared with former years, but 
the internal trade of the empire, with the 
independent tribes and nations in Asia^ had 
been very much extended ; for instance, the 
celebrated fair at Makarjew was remarkably 
well attended ; and the value of the goods 
brought to it amounted to above fifty-three 
millions of rubles, of which forty-two millions 
were Russian manufactures. 

Beneficial effects now began to be felt in 



142 CHAPTER VIII. 

consequence of the humane resolution of the 
government, to give to the crown vassals the 
right of acquiring landed property. According 
to the principles of the ukase of 1S01 lands 
to the value of nearly six millions of rubles had 
been acquired by persons who formerly could 
not hold them. Above the half was purchased 
by merchants, and above one third by the 
crown vassals. The number of vassals who 
had become free from 1803 to 1811 appeared 
by official accounts to be 13,575 males. Great 
praise is due both to private persons and to the 
government for the foundation of charitable or 
useful institutions. Among these the Lyceum 
deserves particular notice, which was founded 
by the emperor himself at Zarskoje-selo, which 
was to enjoy the same privileges as the univer- 
sities, and to educate young men for the im- 
portant offices in the state. Only scholars of 
approved character, and with a sufficient stock 
of knowledge previously acquired, were re- 
ceived in it from twelve years and upwards, 
for six years. After which they were em- 



CHAPTER VIII. ' 143 

ployed in the military or civil service according 
to their qualifications. Fourteen masters gave 
instructions in the Russian, German, and French 
languages, in ethics, mathematics, natural phi- 
losophy, history, and the belles lettres, &c. 
The discipline, and the system of rewards and 
punishments, in this admirable institution de- 
serve to be quoted as models for all similar 
establishments. Alexander took particular 
pleasure in watching over this lyceum and 
examining the progress of the pupils. It was 
unfortunately destroyed by fire, together with 
part of the palace in 1820. 

The literature of Russia made a very rapid 
advance in the beginning of this century. In 
the first few years 1304 works were published, 
of which seven hundred and sixty-one were 
original ; of the translations two hundred and 
sixty-two were from the French ; one hundred 
and ninety-four from the German ; and twenty 
four from the English. The anonymous works 
were seven hundred and forty-two ; among the 



144 CHAPTER VIIT. 

authors named, were ten princes, six counts, 
nineteen prelates, &c. ; one eighth of the 
authors were clergy, and by far the greater 
part of the writers belonged to the hereditary 
nobility. Of the literati by profession the 
catalogue mentioned ninety-four, and gave also 
the names of five female authors, 

With all these improving prospects in the 
interior, the political horizon was becoming 
very gloomy. A dreadful storm was approach- 
ing from the west, while numerous armies in 
Moldavia and Wallachia, and on the boundaries 
of Asia and Europe, were engaged in sangui- 
nary warfare with the Turks and Persians. 
This contest would soon have been decided in 
favour . of Russia, had not the differences with 
France drawn the best part of the Russian 
force, in the middle of the year, to the western 
frontiers of the empire. Napoleon, as we have 
above mentioned, having, contrary to all right 
and justice seized on the dominions of the 
Duke of Oldenburg, without even an offer of in- 



CHAPTER VIII. 145 

ciemnity, that prince and his son, went to St. 
Petersburg, while Napoleon publicly declared 
his confident hope that the peace of the conti- 
nent would not be interrupted. A frequent 
exchange of couriers, between Paris and St. 
Petersburg, at first gave reason to hope an 
amicable arrangement : but when the French 
garrison at Dantzig was increased to 20,000 
men, when the army of Germany under Da- 
voust was daily strengthened, and several divi- 
sions advanced to the Oder and Vistula, when 
the Polish army and the Saxon corps were con- 
siderably augmented by hasty levies, the hope 
of peace naturally declined, and unprejudiced 
persons recognised the real object of the 
strengthening of the Russian cordon on the 
coasts of the Baltic and the frontiers of Warsaw. 
So early as March numerous Russian troops, 
including some regiments of the guards, march- 
ed to occupy all the coasts and harbours of the 
Baltic, as far as the Russian dominion ex- 
tended. If these and other measures, adopted 
at the same time, might have been considered as 

L 



146 CHAPTER VIII. 

intended only to support the commercial regu- 
lations, and prevent smuggling, yet had there 
been solid hopes of the continuance of an amica- 
ble understanding with the powerful sovereign 
of France and Germany, there could be no 
reason for the pacific Alexander to order, by his 
ukase of the 16th of September, a levy of four 
men out of 500 throughout all the provinces of 
the empire. This levy of 130,000 men was not 
only to be complete by the 1st of January, 
1812, but orders were given that they should 
be immediately trained in the interior of the 
country, by invalid officers and subalterns, so 
that when they joined their regiments, they 
might be fit for immediate service. 

Thus the inhabitants of the European conti- 
nent, looked forward to a dreadful contest in 
the north, which would decide whether they 
should be completely reduced to slavery, or 
delivered from a foreign yoke. Never had 
Russia a more formidable contest to maintain ; 
for during the critical period of preparation, a 



CHAPTER VIII. 



147 



great part of its armies was fully engaged with 
the Turks, who had been roused to enthusiasm 
by foreign influence. 

It is not our intention to give a detailed ac- 
count of the campaign in Turkey, in which 
there were several very obstinate engagements, 
with great loss on both sides. The Turks, 
commanded by Achmed Aga, showed more mi- 
litary skill than usual, and fought with des- 
perate valour; they gained considerable ad- 
Vantages over Kutusow, and even forced the' 
passage over the Danube, but by a piece of 
imprudence, lost all their advantages ; and their 
army was compelled to lay down its arms, and 
surrender prisoners of war, to the number of 
25,000 men, on the 8th of December. 

The following circumstance shews that there 
was a secret grudge in the breast of Napoleon 
towards Alexander, before the public suspected 
any misunderstanding. Towards the end of 
the year 1811, the Emperor Napoleon made a 
journey to Holland, and Maria Louisa accom- 

l 2 



148 CHAPTER VIII. 

panied him thither. It was during his visit to 
Amsterdam that he first betrayed a mark of 
animosity to the Emperor Alexander, a senti- 
ment which the public by no means supposed 
him to entertain, for nothing had yet transpired 
that could disturb the good understanding be- 
tween the two sovereigns. In a cabinet of the 
apartments of the empress, there stood on a 
piano, a small bust of the Emperor Alexander, 
which was a remarkable likeness. Wherever 
Napoleon resided, it was his custom to exa- 
mine all the rooms allotted to himself and the 
empress. On this occasion, perceiving the 
bust in question, he took it up, placed it under 
his arm, and continued to converse with the 
ladies present. Meantime, he forgot the bust, 
and raising his arm, let it fall. One of the 
ladies caught it before it reached the ground, 
and asked Napoleon what she should do with 
it: " What you please," said he, "but never 
let me see it again." 



149 



CHAPTER IX. 

1812. — The policy of Russia ever since the 
reign of Catharine has been decidedly directed 
towards Europe, and sufficiently proved to the 
unprejudiced observer, that its object was 
nothing less than to obtain the supremacy over 
the European continent. The mild Alexander 
renounced indeed the part of a dictator, which 
his unfortunate father had ventured to assume ; 
but repeated attempts to influence the rela- 
tions of the European states, testified that the 
policy of the cabinet of St. Petersburg under 
the reign of Alexander, was still the same. 
A collision with France was inevitable in this 
direction, and could not be avoided at this 
time, unless the policy of Russia gave up its 
direction towards Europe, and sought the cen- 
tral point of the Russian power in Asia, there 



150 CHAPTER IX. 

to found an eastern monarchy, which might 
decidedly counter-balance the western empire 
of Napoleon. 

The policy of Russia took the opposite direc- 
tion. The most dreadful contest with Napo- 
leon was therefore certain, and the danger to 
the political existence of Russia greater than 
ever, had not mad ambition, blind thirst of glory, 
and vanity intoxicated by long prosperity, led 
the French emperor to attempt to finish in one 
campaign what would have required several 
campaigns, carried on with moderation and 
upon a well matured plan. It is true indeed 
that the Russian politicians and generals when 
they laid down their general plan for the war, 
could not take into their calculation, errors 
which their adversary was not likely to com- 
mit. When they determined on engaging in 
the contest, they reckoned on the strength of 
their army, whose bravery and hardiness were 
undoubted, but which had no generals who 
could be compared in tactical skill with those 



CHAPTER IX. 151 

of Napoleon. They also took into account the 
difficulty of carrying an offensive war into the 
heart of Russia ; so that the Russians thought 
they had nothing to fear in waging a defensive 
war in their own country. 

The decided aversion of the people to the 
French was another favourable circumstance. 
Lastly the subsidies of England, and the effects 
of a diversion were probably taken into the 
account. Since, considering the general temper 
of the inhabitants, between the Vistula and 
the Rhine, such a diversion, if it were at all 
successful, might lead to the most important 
consequences in the rear of the French army. 

According to accounts, founded upon offi- 
cial documents, the Russian army, including 
the marine and the garrisons, amounted to 
899,927 men under arms. On the other 
hand the whole of Western Europe marched 
under the banners of Napoleon, who had at 
his command a population of 80,000,000. 



152 CHAPTER IX. 

While the eyes of ail Europe were turned on the 
immense preparations making on both sides, the 
French agents pretended that Napoleon's depar- 
ture from Paris was merely designed to review 
the great army on the Vistula. Perhaps even he 
hoped honourably to avert the terrible struggle, 
conformably to his own views, and with this 
intention had sent the Count de Narbonne to 
the head-quarters of Alexander at Wilna. On 
the one hand, the increasing consumption, both 
of men and money, by the war in the Spanish 
peninsula, might appear as an obstacle to his 
plans, while on the other, he could calculate on 
an army of nearly a million of men, and de- 
pended likewise on a great body of auxiliaries, 
namely one hundred thousand men furnished 
by the Rhenish confederation, and lastly .on 
the alliance with Prussia and Austria, which 
secured his rear and both flanks, and supplied 
him together, with sixty thousand men. 

Alexander appeared alone in the lists, but he 
was well aware that the sceptre of the conti- 



CHAPTER IX. 153 

nent would be his, if it fell from the hands of 
Napoleon. On the 24th of April, he left St. 
Petersburg, to join his main army, which was 
stationed on the western frontier of Lithuania. 
England had not yet acceded to the treaty of 
alliance, concluded on the 14th of March, be- 
tween Russia and Sweden ; but the cabinet of 
St. Petersburg did not doubt of this accession, 
which, in fact, took place some weeks later; 
It was then that the Prince Royal of Sweden* 
Marshal Bernadotte, engaged to take the field, 
and to join with his own troops, a Russian 
corps. England and Russia promised to Swe- 
den the kingdom of Norway, and the island of 
Guadeloupe. Napoleon left Paris on the 9th of 
May, having appointed a meeting with his father- 
in-law, the Emperor of Austria, which took place 
at Dresden on the 26th. His ambassador hav- 
ing returned to Dresden, without effecting the 
object of his mission, his army was put in 
motion at the end of June, to seek the Russians 
beyond the Niemen and the Vistula. 



154 CHAPTER IX. 

The army which was now going to enter 
Russia, one of the finest and most formidable 
ever collected under the French banners, 
amounted to half a million of men, including 
the auxiliaries of Prussia and Austria, in whose 
alliance Napoleon perhaps placed too much 
confidence. Alexander had concluded con- 
ventions more prudent and advantageous. Be- 
sides the treaties with England and Sweden 
he had taken his measures in Turkey. The 
peace, signed at Bucharest on the 28th of May, 
left him without uneasiness for the southern 
parts of his empire : and as soon as Napoleon, 
from his head-quarters at Gumbinnen in wes- 
tern Prussia, had proclaimed war with Russia, 
Alexander gave orders to his army in Moldavia, 
to march to Lithuania. It is asserted by 
French writers that this treaty of Bucharest 
was not known to Napoleon till five months 
afterwards, namely in the beginning of Octo- 
ber. But if this is true, it seems difficult to 
explain what General Andreossy, the French 



CHAPTER IX. 



155 



ambassador at Constantinople was doing, that 
he did not send his master notice of events of 
such importance to him. 

The history of the campaign of 1812, and the 
following years, till the occupation of Paris by 
the allies in 1814, is so fully known, even in its 
minutest details, by numerous publications, 
in various languages, that we shall content our- 
selves with giving a rapid sketch of those ex- 
traordinary events. 

On the 14th of July, Alexander repaired to 
Moscow, to excite the zeal of the Russians in 
defence of their country. The French armies 
had entered the Russian territory on the 25th of 
June, and the cabinet of St. Peterburg had not 
yet taken any great national measure for the 
defence of the empire against invasion. Napo- 
leon, who had passed the Niemen, without op- 
position, exclaimed, " Fatality hurries on the 
Russians, let the destinies be accomplished." 
The army entered Wilna, the capital of Lithuania, 



J 56 CHAPTER IX 

which the Russians had just evacuated, flying 
before the enemy, and abandoning their fron- 
tiers, with a rapidity which seemed to conceal 
a snare. This solitude and silence alarmed the 
French soldiers, whose superstitious terrors were 
increased by a dreadful storm. The roads and 
the fields were inundated, ten thousand horses 
perished, and a squadron of Poles was drowned 
in the Viloa, in attempting to cross it, by Na- 
poleon's order. 

The march of the emperor to Wilna having 
been extremely rapid, his convoys could not 
keep up with him ; he would not wait for them, 
but yielding to his impatience, and to the hope 
of a decisive battle, he followed the enemy with 
400,000 men, with provisions for only twenty 
days, in a country which had been unable to 
support the 20,000 Swedes under Charles XII. 
Of the immense droves of oxen which followed 
the army, a considerable part reached Wilna 
and Minsk, but too late to be of much use. In 
the same manner, the corn sent from Dantzig 



CHAPTER IX. 157 

arrived several days after the departure of the 
troops. Thus the disasters of this expedition 
commenced at the outset, and the grand army 
was constantly harrassed by famine, on its ad- 
vance as well as on its retreat. Of the three 
principal columns into which it was divided, 
that of the centre suffered the most, because it 
followed the road, where the Russians had 
ruined every thing, and the devastation of which 
was completed by the van-guard of the French 
army. As it went forward the soldiers lived by 
pillage, which exasperated the country, but 
which nothing could prevent. 

Such was the state of things when a Russian 
agent, named BalachofF, appeared at the French 
advanced posts, bringing proposals of peacefrom 
his master. They were, however, too vague to 
be admitted, and Napoleon dismissed Mr. 
BalachofF. Alexander, whatever might be his 
secret intentions, seemed by this step to have 
carried his moderation to the utmost. Napo- 
leon stopped twenty days at Wilna, and when 



158 CHAPTER IX. 

he left that city, several engagements took 
place between the French and the Russians, 
but they were only skirmishes, and Napoleon's 
hope of a great battle was disappointed. Prince 
Bagration however was defeated at Mohilef by 
Davoust, and joined Barclay de Toily. It ap- 
pears that Napoleon having reached Witepsk, 
without seeing the enemy, who had abandoned 
their strongly fortified camp, was at first in- 
clined to remain there for the winter. This 
resolution was of short duration, and Napoleon 
thought only of taking Moscow. In spite of 
the sufferings of his troops, who were perishing 
by thousands of disease and hunger, he re- 
solved to proceed, and on the 16th of August 
came in sight of Smolensk, and of the whole 
Russian army, commanded by Prince Bagration 
and Barclay de Tolly. It extended over the 
plain in long and dark columns. At this 
sight, Napoleon, transported with joy, ex- 
claimed, "At length I have them f But he 
was again deceived. Barclay de Tolly, instead 
of risking a battle to save Smolensk, thought it 
sufficient to protect the flight of the inhabitants 



CHAPTER IX. 159 

and to empty the magazines. Having done this 
the Russian army continued its retreat, and 
could not be overtaken. The few troops left 
in Smolensk defended it obstinately, and set 
fire to it, when they withdrew. 

The French were now in possession of the 
road to Moscow, and some engagements took 
place with the Russian rear guard, especially a 
severe contest at Volontina. But the Russians 
continued their retreat, burning all the towns 
through which they passed, followed step by 
step by the French, who suffered severely by 
privations of every kind. Napoleon however 
began to grow uneasy ; he had expected some 
communication from the Emperor Alexander, 
but none came, and he himself made advances 
to a new negociation. He caused a letter to 
be written to Barclay de Tolly, and sent to 
the Russian emperor protestations of friend- 
ship, which were at the least singular in the 
actual state of things. But the Emperor Alex- 
ander, far from being inclined to answer accord- 



160 CHAPTER IX. 

ing to his wishes, was at that time in Finland, 
when he had an interview with Bernadotte, to 
induce him to act offensively against Napoleon. 
It was in this conference, at which the English 
ambassador was present, that it was resolved 
to write to General Moreau, to offer him a com- 
mand, which he unfortunately accepted. 

It was at this interview with the crown prince 
that the news of the entrance of the French 
into Smolensk arrived, on receiving which 
Alexander pledged himself, never to sign a 
treaty of peace with Napoleon while he was on 
Russian ground. " Should St. Petersburg be 
taken," said he, " I will retire into Siberia. I 
will then resume our ancient customs, and like 
our long-bearded ancestors, will return anew, 
to conquer the empire." "This resolution," 
exclaimed the crown prince, " will liberate 
Europe." 

The temporising system adopted by the 
Russian general seems to have displeased his 



CHAPTER IX. 161 

own men, as much as it harrassed the French ; 
and Alexander, obliged to yield to the general 
clamour, gave the chief command to Kutusoff, 
an old general of the school of Paul I. In con- 
sequence of this change the Russian army at 
length stopped, and on the 7th of September 
was fought the memorable battle of Borodino, 
or the Moskwa, one of the most desperate 
and sanguinary recorded in the annals of 
modern warfare. Above 1 20,000 cannon shot 
were fired. The loss of the Russians, accord- 
ing to their own account, was 25,000 killed, 
and that of the French probably not inferior. 
It may be calculated that the killed and 
wounded amounted to 100,000 men, with a 
very great number of officers and generals. On 
the side of the French, who had 43 generals 
killed or wounded, they particularly regret- 
ted Auguste Caulaincourt and Montbrun ; and 
on that of the Russians, the intrepid Prince 
Bagration. Though the Russian army re- 
treated in good order, Kutusoff did not venture 
another battle to save Moscow. 

M 



162 CHAPTER IX. 

The inhabitants of that city finding that it 
was not to be defended, resolved to fly ; for 
which a few days were left them by the inabi- 
lity of the French immediately to profit by their 
doubtful victory. Napoleon stopped three 
days at Mosaisk, and it was not till the 14th of 
September, that the advanced guard of the 
French army entered the ancient capital 
of the czars, whose flames were destined to 
be at the same time, the funeral torch of the 
fortune of Napoleon, and the beacon of deliver- 
ance to the Russian nation. 

After all that has been said of the burning 
of Moscow, and of the causes of that unparal- 
leled event, it would be idle to enter upon the 
discussion in this place. I will merely observe, 
that notwithstanding all that has been latterly 
written to prove that Moscow was burnt with- 
out any premeditated plan, and in spite of Coi nt 
Rostopschin s pamphlet, entitled " La verite 
sur l'incendie de Moscow," we agree with Dr. 
Lyall, " that the Russians themselves certainly 



CHAPTER IX. 



163 



did burn Moscow by design, and that if this 
most glorious example of patriotism has been 
disavowed by the Russians, it was because the 
Russian government was glad to have an op- 
portunity to exasperate the minds of the popu- 
lace at Moscow, by exaggerating the barbarous 
conduct of the Emperor Napoleon." 

Whatever may have been the origin of the 
conflagration, it destroyed all the splendid 
expectations which had been founded on the 
possession of Moscow : it filled the French 
and their adherents with dismay, nor did they 
ever after recover from the shock. What 
could induce Napoleon to remain six weeks in 
a place, which, as he himself afterwards de- 
clared, had now neither political nor military 
importance, has never been explained, nor, as 
far as I know, attempted to be so. His con- 
duct, in this respect, seemed so extraordinary, 
that it was even pretended the shock had af- 
fected his understanding, 9 

m 2 



164 CHAPTER IX. 

It is well known, that after having waited 
35 days in Moscow, for a letter and proposals 
from the Emperor Alexander, Napoleon re- 
solved to abandon his barren conquest, and 
the still smoking ruins of that capital; he 
quitted it, leaving orders with Marshal Mortier, 
to destroy, to its foundation, the ancient palace 
of the czars. Meantime, winter, the most 
formidable ally of the Russians, was at hand. 
It appeared prompt and terrible, accompanied 
by all the terrors of the north, and involved the 
retreat, or rather the flight and route of the 
French army, in a complication of disasters 
unparalleled in history. 

Before we take leave of Moscow, it may be 
proper to give, from official sources, some ac- 
count of the loss sustained by the destruction 
of the capital. Of about 3000 stone houses, 
there remained only 525 ; and of 6,900 wooden 
edifices, only 1797. The total loss of the city 
and government of Moscow, by fire and pillage* 



CHAPTER IX. 165 

was estimated at three hundred and twenty-one 
millions of rubles. The government appointed 
a committee of indemnity, but many proprie- 
tors, whose losses had been . the greatest, did 
not present any statement of them. Thus the 
loss of the two Counts Razumowski, General 
Apravin, and Count Boutourlin, whose library, 
valued at a million, was entirely consumed, 
and of Count Rostopschin in houses and fur- 
niture, was five millions. Since the deliver- 
ance of the country,|the Russians have laboured 
so diligently in the restoration of Moscow, that 
ft has arisen from its ashes finer than before; 
above a year ago it was as populous as ever, 
containing nearly 12,000 houses, 7,000 shops, 
and above 300,000 inhabitants : the public 
buildings have been rebuilt with more magni- 
ficence and regularity, (the Kremlin for in- 
stance, at the expense of 20,000 pounds) and 
the academies as well as the university and its 
collections restored. In commemoration of 
the recent fortunes of the city, the emperor on 
the 24th of October 1817, the anniversary of its 



166 CHAPTER IX. 

deliverance, laid the first stone of a new Church, 
that of the Redeemer, which will be the largest 
temple in Christendom. It is, we believe, now 
completed, and adorned with a collosal statue 
of our Saviour, executed by the celebrated 
sculptor Dannecker of Stutgard, by command 
of her majesty, the Empress Maria. 10 

We shall not follow in detail this fatal retreat, 
the disasters of which were increased by the total 
failure of resources, which inexcusable want of 
foresight had neglected to provide : they have 
been recently described by other writers who 
have left little to be said upon the subject; and 
besides they perhaps belong to the history of 
France, rather than to that of Russia. But we 
must remark the character which the Russian 
nation and its sovereign displayed in this me- 
morable contest. The loss of the Russians was 
equal to that of the French, both by battle and 
by the climate, for this very severe winter is 
said to have affected them almost as much as it 
did the French. Yet their firmness never 



CHAPTER IX. 167 

abandoned them, and Napoleon himself has 
done them ample justice, in the memoirs 
published under his name. As for the results, 
Russia derived great advantage from this cam- 
paign, if we compare it with the fate which was 
reserved for it, if Napoleon had succeeded. Its 
capital had been consumed with immense 
riches, several of its provinces had been laid 
waste with unparalleled fury ; above 200,000 
regular troops had perished. But all these 
misfortunes, reparable by time and industry, 
had a real compensation, in having developed 
the resources of the empire, and electrified the 
spirit of the people ; in having demonstrated 
that if Russia is not secure from invasion, not- 
withstanding its remoteness, that if its armies 
may be vanquished, in spite of the courage and 
the fanatic devotedness of the troops, it is in- 
vincible by the nature of its climate. 

Napoleon was not acquainted with Russia, 
and had been ill-informed on points of high 
importance ; but especially he had completely 



168 CHAPTER IX, 

deceived himself with respect to the character 
of his illustrious adversary. The Emperor 
Alexander, not dazzled by the splendour of mi- 
litary success which had hitherto been so extra- 
ordinary, opposed unalterable firmness to his 
first reverses, contented to learn how to con- 
quer, even from his defeats, and made a vow as 
a sovereign and a man never to treat with Bona- 
parte, while there was an armed enemy in his 
country. Napoleon, on the point of leaving 
Moscow, desired peace, at any rate, and sent 
General Lauriston for the last time to Kutu- 
soff to obtain from that general a safe conduct 
to go to St. Petersburg ; but this negociation 
failed. The Russian general, aware of the in- 
flexible resolution of his sovereign, sought only 
to gain time till the frost should set in. In 
fact a severe cold was felt in the beginning of 
November, and the retreat could only be made 
amidst the ice and snow. The French army, 
destitute of subsistence, was obliged to fight 
every day and every hour. Exhausted by a 
cold of 23°, by want and continual marches, 



CHAPTER IX. 169 

they reached the banks of the Beresina, still 
numbering about 80,000 men. Since the army 
left Moscow, 150,000 had perished, and the 
remainder was only saved by the intrepidity 
and skill of Marshal Ney ; 20,000 French pe- 
rished in the Beresina, and in the marshes on 
its banks, and 17 or 18,000 were taken priso- 
ners. The poor remains of the army at length 
reached the banks of the Niemen, which they 
passed on the 1 6th of December; 450,000 had 
crossed that river six months before, and it may 
be affirmed from official data, that Napoleon 
had sacrificed at least 300,000 men in this cam- 
paign. The accounts published by the Russian 
government stated that 225,000 of the enemy's 
dead had been burned in three of the provinces 
of Moscow, Witepsk, and Smolensk : this mode 
of disposing of them, having been judged the 
safest to prevent the infection which would 
have been caused, when the winter was over. 

The Russians lost no time in following up 
their advantages, Alexander joined his army 



170 CHAPTER IX. 

at Wilnau, and by his example encouraged his 
subjects to support privations, cold, and fatigue. 
His presence and his affability exalted the 
enthusiasm of the Russian nation. He himself 
issued the orders for the formation of hospitals, 
applied, with indefatigable ardour to the reorga- 
nisation of the corps which had been thrown 
into disorder by the war, and communicated 
his own enthusiasm to all the parts of his vast 
empire. The nation, touched by so noble an 
example, by this paternal solicitude, answered 
by immense sacrifices, to the call of its sove- 
reign. Voluntary contributions of men and 
money were furnished by the nobility. The 
whole empire resounded with shouts of victory 
and hymns of gratitude, and when the enemy 
had entirely vanished from its territory, it rose, 
in its turn, to invade that of its adversaries. A 
swarm of Cossacks, loaded with immense booty, 
poured, like a torrent, from the banks of the 
Don. The young and the old, every one who 
had strength to carry a lance, came with the 
reinforcements to join the army. 



CHAPTER IX. 171 

Meantime, European diplomacy hastened to 
profit by the misfortunes of Napoleon, and his 
doubtful allies abandoned his fortune, which 
had received a mortal wound in the north and 
the south at the same time. General York, who 
commanded the Prussian auxiliary corps, signed 
on the 30th of December a convention of neu- 
trality with the Russian General Diebitsch which 
prevented Murat, whom Napoleon had left to 
command the remains of the grand army, 
from retaining the line of the Niemen, and even 
from keeping the positions behind the Vistula. 
Soon all Poland was evacuated, and Germany, 
where so many animosities fomented, where so 
many slumbering hopes had been awakened, 
was to become again the theatre of war. 



172 



CHAPTER X. 



18i 3. — The capitulation of General York deci- 
ded the fate of the remains of the great French 
army on the other side of the Vistula, and 
though the King of Prussia, outwardly showed 
great indignation, it might easily be presumed 
that be could not, really, be displeased with 
the general, who had undoubtedly saved the 
flower of the Prussian army ; but the king was 
still in the power of the eleventh corps of the 
French army, under Marshal Augereau, which 
occupied Berlin. But had General York even 
acted by the command of his sovereign, it must 
be owned that no power had ever more legiti- 
mate and honourable reasons than Prussia, for 
violating its treaties. Napoleon had imposed 
upon it every sort of humiliation, he had exer- 
cised in Prussia every act of despotism, which 



CHAPTER X. 173 

can exasperate a nation. The appeal made to 
Europe, by Alexander, could not fail to be 
listened to by all men of independent minds, 
and all princes who had still some dignity re- 
maining. Accordingly, in proportion as the Rus- 
sian armies advanced into Germany, all those 
alliances, which ambition, interest, and weak- 
ness had contracted with the cabinet of theTui- 
leries were dissolved: the Crown Prince of 
S weden (Bernadotte) landed on the 14th of April 
in Mecklenburg, and fixed his head-quarters at 
Rostock. Prussia joined Russia by a declara- 
tion of the 13th of March, and on the 31st pub- 
lished its manifesto against France. Austria still 
preserved the semblance of an ally, but the 
cabinet of Vienna was already treating with 
England and Russia, which called upon the 
Germans to shake off the yoke; and in the 
month of March 80,000 Russians and 60,000 
Prussians crossed the Elbe, near Wittenberg 
and Dresden. 

Napoleon, who had abandoned his army at 



174 



CHAPTER X. 



Smorgonie on the 5th of December 1812, had 
arrived at Paris on the 20th of the same month. 
Having obtained from the senate a new army, 
he left Paris on the 5th of April 1813, and pro- 
ceeding directly to Saxony, found himself at 
the head of 250,000 men; but nearly a fourth 
part of these troops were Germans of Saxony, 
Westphalia, or Bavaria, whose sentiments 
were at least doubtful ; ~all the rest who 
came from France were young and inexpe- 
rienced, for the veteran soldiers had perished, 
and the cavalry in particular was very weak. 
On the 2nd of May he gained the hard-fought 
battle of Liitzen, and on the 21st that of 
Bautzen. The result of these advantages was 
the successive occupation of Dresden, Ham- 
burgh, and Breslau, and lastly, the armistice of 
Plesswitz in Silesia concluded on the 4th of 
June. Napoleon by accepting this armistice 
consented that the interests of Germany, and 
of the French empire, should be discussed in a 
congress at Prague, which was opened on the 
10th of July. The allies on their side hoped 



CHAPTER X. 175 

that all Germany, Holland, Switzerland, the 
Tyrol, Italy, and the south of Europe, would 
seize the first opportunity to join the coalition. 
They particularly wished to gain Austria, and 
Napoleon having declined, even to write a con- 
ciliatory note to his father-in-law, a treaty of 
alliance between Austria, Russia, and Prussia, 
was signed at Prague, and hostilities soon after 
recommenced. 

On the 26th and 27th of August, Napoleon 
was obliged to fight a battle before Dresden, in 
which the allied armies suffered considerable 
loss, the Austrians alone having had above 
20,000 taken prisoners. It was in this battle 
that General Moreau, who had arrived at the 
head-quarters of the allies, on the 16th of 
August, was mortally wounded, by the side of 
the Emperor Alexander. But Napoleon's vic- 
tory was not complete, the allies having effected 
their retreat. 



Alexander was much affected by the death 



176 CHAPTER X. 

of General Moreau, whom he always treated 
with so much distinction, that the latter 
could never speak without enthusiasm of 
that august sovereign, and hearing one of his 
generals call him the best of princes, he replied 
with vivacity, " How, sir, say rather the best 
of men" 

During the whole of the night of the 1st of 
September, General Moreau was uneasy as to 
his fate, though he did not seem to suffer. At 
length, about seven o'clock in the morning, Mr. 
de Svinine, his secretary, being alone with 
him, he dictated to him the following lines, 
addressed to the emperor. 

" Sire ! 

" I go down to the grave, with the same 
sentiments of admiration, respect, and attach- 
ment, for your majesty, with which I was in" 
spired in the first moment of our interview." 



He then closed his eyes, M. de Svinine, 



CHAPTER X. 177 

thought that he was considering what to dic- 
tate, and held his pen in readiness to continue 
— but, alas ! he was no more ! 

The following letter to the widow of Mo- 
reau, does equal honour to all the parties con- 
cerned :— 

" Madam, 

" When the dreadful misfortune, which befel 
General Moreau at my side, deprived me of 
the abilities and experience of this great man, 
I conceived a hope that by careful treatment 
he might be preserved to his family, and my 
friendship. Providence has ordained other- 
wise. He died as he lived, with the firmness 
of a strong mind. 

" There is only one remedy for the great af- 
flictions of life, namely, the compassion which 
others feel for them. In Russia, Madam, you 
will ever meet with these sentiments ; and if it 



178 



CHAPTER X. 



should be agreeable to you to fix your abode 
there, I would do every thing in my power to 
render happy, the life of a person to whom I 
consider it as a sacred duty to offer consolation 
and support. I beg you, madam, to depend 
implicitly upon me, to make me acquainted 
with every occasion on which I may be useful 
to you, and to write directly to myself. I 
shall esteem myself happy to anticipate your 
wishes. The friendship which I bore to your 
husband extends beyond the tomb, and I have 
no other means of discharging, at least in 
part, my debt to him, than by doing some good 
to his family. 

" Receive, Madam, on this mournful and 
cruel occasion, these testimonies of friendship, 
and the assurance of my sincere interest in 
your welfare. 

Alexander." 



Independently of the esteem which Alexan- 
der felt for Moreau he was particularly affected 



CHAPTER X. 179 

by the remarkable manner of his death. In the 
retreat of the 27th, while riding through a nar- 
row path, bounded by a marsh, he checked his 
horse, and drew up, to let the emperor pass. 
At that instant, a ball was fired from a cross 
battery, of which they were not aware, this 
shattered one of his legs, and, passing through 
the horse, fractured also the other leg. He fell 
into the marsh, exclaiming " C'est fini!" He 
bore the amputation with firmness, and was 
conveyed over the mountains to Laun, where 
he died. 

M. de Svinine repaired immediately toToplitz, 
with the melancholy intelligence, and on his 
arrival found Alexander, accompanied by the 
Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, 
attending the Te Deum, which was chaunted 
in celebration of the last victories gained over 
Buonaparte. He waited the conclusion of the 
ceremony, when he informed the emperor of the 
death of Moreau. His majesty greatly affected 

n 2 



180 



CHAPTER X. 



took his hand saying : " He was a great man, 
and had a truly noble heart !" 

His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, hav- 
ing considered the magnanimous exertions of 
the emperor, for the deliverance of the Continent 
of Europe from French domination ; the perso- 
nal intrepidity manifested by his imperial ma- 
jesty, in several great battles with the enemy; 
and the splendour which had in consequence 
surrounded his name and character, became 
desirous of cementing the alliance and friend- 
ship subsisting between the two crowns, by 
admitting the emperor into the order of the 
garter, and his majesty was accordingly elec- 
ted a knight companion, in a chapter held on 
the 27th of July, 1813. A commission was 
immediately after prepared for delivering to 
and investing the emperor with the ensigns of 
the order. 



As almost the whole of Germany was in the 



CHAPTER X. 181 

possession of the French, the commissioners 
proceeded, in the first instance, to Gothenburg 
and thence to Stralsund, where they landed. 
They found that town partly garrisoned by Eng- 
lish troops, and learned that hostilities had 
been renewed, so that it was uncertain whether 
they could continue their journey in safety. 
They however reached Berlin, where they were 
detained nearly three weeks, till the Crown 
Prince of Sweden having defeated the French, 
at Dennewitz, they were able to proceed, taking 
however a circuitous route through Silesia, 
during which they were more than once in con- 
siderable danger of falling in with the French. 

The commissioners reached the head-quar- 
ters of the allied sovereigns at Toplitz, in 
Bohemia, on the 27th September following, 
being the anniversary of the emperor's coro- 
nation : and, ,the requisite arrangements hav- 
ing been made for observing the accustomed 
ceremonies, as fully as circumstances would 
permit, the investiture took place on the 



182 CHAPTER X. 

evening of that day, in the presence of the 
Grand Duke Constantino, and the great officers 
of the imperial court. 

On the following day, the emperor gave a 
grand dinner to the commissioners, the English 
ministers resident at the head-quarters of the 
allied sovereigns, the members of their respec- 
tive embassies, the gentlemen of the garter 
mission, and several Russian and English per- 
sons of distinction. 

After the battle of Dresden, Napoleon felt 
the necessity of giving up that position, and 
drawing nearer to the frontiers of France ; but 
it was too late. His forces had been scattered 
in Prussia, Bohemia, and Silesia, where they 
had sustained considerable defeats. On the 
18th of October, he was compelled to fight 
under the walls of Leipsig, that memorable and 
sanguinary battle, the consequence of which, 
was the deliverance of Germany from the 
French yoke. It was in the heat of this battle, 



CHAPTER X. 183 

that the Saxon and Wiirtemberg allies, to the 
amount of thirty battalions, quitted the French 
army in a body, and went over to the Crown 
Prince of Sweden, and immediately attacked 
the French. 

On the morning of the 19th, the magistrates 
of Leipsig obtained permission to send a depu- 
tation to Prince Schwartzenberg, commander- 
in-chief of the allied armies, to beg him to spare 
the city. Napoleon went with Murat, to take 
leave of the King of Saxony, who had remained 
faithful to him to the last ; and to whom he could 
offer no better advice than that he should shift 
for himself as well as he could. An officer had 
been sent to the Emperor Alexander, to propose 
a capitulation. Both he and the deputation 
returned without having obtained their object. 
The Emperor of Russia, who, together with the 
King of Prussia, was upon an eminence, about 
500 paces from Leipsig, answered, " that after 
what the King of Saxony had done to injure the 
allies, they were not disposed to give credit to 



184 CHAPTER X. 

his words, and still less to grant his proposal^ 
to allow the French four hours time to march 
out : not a minute should be granted to them ; 
but the inhabitants, and the German troops, 
should be spared, if they took no part in the 
defence of Leipsig," This determination was 
loudly cheered by the troops, who immediately 
marched to attack the city. The French hav- 
ing retreated, blew up the bridge as soon as 
Napoleon had passed it, by which many thou- 
sands of their army were abandoned to the 
enemy, or drowned in attempting to swim 
across the river : among the latter was the brave 
Polish Prince Poniatowsky. At noon, the 
allies were masters of the city, and at one 
o'clock, the Emperor Alexander, the King of 
Prussia, and soon after the Emperor of Austria, 
arrived with a numerous suite of the most dis- 
tinguished generals, Schwartzenberg, Blucher, 
Barclay de Tolly, Bulow, Platof, &c, they were 
welcomed by the people and the troops, with 
the most joyful acclamations. 



CHAPTER X. 185 

Napoleon, after having lost the half of his 
army, hastened his retreat towards the Rhine, 
but did not reach the banks of that river till he 
had sustained at Hanau, on the 30th of October, 
a severe check. The Bavarian General Wrede, 
on a treaty being concluded between his sove- 
reign and Austria, had on the 26th taken the 
command of an Austrian and Bavarian army of 
60,000 men, with .which he endeavoured to in 
tercept the retreat of the French army to the 
Rhine. In this battle, the French had 20,000 
men killed or wounded, but they succeeded 
in cutting their way through. The loss of the 
Bavarians was nearly equal, and General Wrede 
himself was severely wounded. This was the 
last battle that Napoleon was to fight in Ger- 
many : a new campaign, and new disasters 
awaited him on the other side of the Rhine, on 
the territory of France itself. 

The consequence of these events is wel] 
known ; all the fortresses in Germany, held by 
French garrisons, fell successively into the 



186 CHAPTER X. 

hands of the allies. Holland was evacuated, 
and the combined armies advanced towards the 
Rhine. In the south, fortune was equally un- 
propitious to the French colours ; the whole of 
the Spanish peninsula was lost, and Marshal 
Soult, obliged to retreat before the Duke of 
Wellington, had repassed the Bidassoa. 

In this state of things the allied sovereigns, by 
a declaration which they issued at Francfort, 
stated that they did not make war against France 
but against Napoleon, that it was their desire 
that France should be strong, happy, and more 
powerful than under its ancient kings. At the 
end of December 120,000 men, commanded by 
Prince Schwartzenberg, passed the Rhine, be- 
tween Bale and Schaffhausen, notwithstanding 
the neutrality of Switzerland, on which Napo- 
leon seems to have depended. The Silesian army, 
under the command of General Blucher, passed 
the Rhine at the same time, between Mannheim 
and Coblentz, and the plains of Champagne 
became the theatre of war. In this campaign 



CHAPTER X. 



187 



of three months, where not a day passed with- 
out a battle, Napoleon, by the admission of 
his enemies, displayed military talents of the 
highest order. On the 24th of February, the 
Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia 
met at Chaumont, where they signed a declara- 
tion, announcing their intentions ; on the 1 st of 
March, in concert with the British cabinet, they 
published the treaty, by which the coalition 
engaged to keep on foot an army of 150,000 
men, and to employ all the resources of their 
dominions, in prosecuting the war against France 
till the conclusion of a general peace, under the 
protection of which, the rights and liberties of 
all nations might be established and secured. 

It was not till this time that the hopes of 
the partisans of the house of Bourbon began to 
revive. The first symptoms of royalism at- 
tempted to manifest themselves at Troyes on 
the 24th of February ; the allied sovereigns had 
not expressed the smallest interest in favour of 
the house of Bourbon. In all their proclama- 



188 CHAPTER X. 

tions, they showed the greatest respect for the 
rights of the people. The French turned their 
eyes towards the Emperor Alexander, on 
whose magnanimity they placed all their hopes. 
That monarch showed himself the best and 
most affable of men ; he gained all those hearts 
which Napoleon had alienated : the gracefulness 
of his manners, the frankness of his language, 
the readiness and the justice with which he 
attended to every complaint made to him, and 
the strict discipline observed by his troops, 
greatly contributed to the success of the allies. 
After the battles of Areis-sur Aube, on the 
21st and 22nd of March, and Fere-Champe- 
noise on the 25th, they resolved to march to 
Paris, while Napoleon, pursued and harrassed 
by 10,000 Russian cavalry, arrived at St. Dizier, 
where he intended to join some reinforcements 
that came from Metz. He thought that the 
enemy was following him, when he learned that 
the mass of the allied forces was under the walls 
of Paris. It is not exactly known, by whose 
advice the allies took this resolution, which 



CHAPTER X. 189 

decided the success of the war, and the fate of 
Napoleon ; who, as soon as he was sensible of 
his mistake, thought of returning, but notwith- 
standing the celerity of his march, he could 
not arrive in time. The Empress Maria Louisa 
had left Paris on the 29th of March ; the allied 
armies were at the gates on the 30th, in the 
morning, and 150,000 men attacked the city, 
which had no defence but the courage of its 
inhabitants : the national guard made a vigor- 
ous resistance, and after ten hours fighting, a 
capitulation was proposed at half past five in 
the evening by Marshal Marmont, and readily 
accepted and signed by the allied sovereigns. 

At seven o'clock Napoleon arrived on the 
heights of Ville Juif, where he learned that the 
capitulation was signed, upon which he turned 
back and went to Fontainbleau. On the 31st 
of March, at noon, the Emperor Alexander, the 
King of Prussia, and Prince Schwartzenberg, 
made their entry into Paris. 



190 CHAPTER X. 

An immense concourse of people crowded 
all the Boulevards, by which the allied armies 
were to pass. The balconies, and the windows, 
were thronged with spectators', particularly 
females. Early in the morning the cavalry and 
the guards, under the command of the Grand 
Duke Constantine, were drawn up in columns, 
on the road from Bondy to Paris, and the 
sovereigns met at Pantin, Here they received 
the deputation of the mayors of Paris. 

The two monarchs, accompanied by a great 
number of princes and generals, passed through 
the barriers of Paris to the Fauxbourg St. Mar- 
tin. The cossacks of the guard led the van, the 
infantry marched thirty, and the cavalry fifteen 
abreast, the bands playing, and colours flying. 
Above 50,000 men passed along the northern 
boulevard, and through the Place Louis XV. 
to the Elysian Fields, while other columns pro- 
ceeded over the outer boulevard, along the 
walls of Paris, to their cantonments in the en- 



CHAPTER X. 191 

virons. In the Elysian Fields the sovereigns 
halted, to see the troops file off in parade. The 
march continued several hours, and opened the 
eyes of the Parisians to the falsehoods with 
which Napoleon had deceived them, respecting 
the force and the condition of the allied armies. 

The royalists pressed round the monarchs 
and recommended to them the wishes of France. 
The fickle mob huzzaed the Emperor of Russia, 
and the King of Prussia, as they would have 
done Napoleon if he had returned victorious. 
The women waved handkerchiefs and scattered 
flowers, to crown the conquerors, whom, how- 
ever, they despised in their hearts, as stupid 
Russian and German brutes. Among these 
huzzaing thousands, there were not perhaps an 
hundred individuals, who were actuated by the 
pure, genuine, sincere feelings of their hearts. 
The Emperor of Russia was however particu- 
larly the object of the attention of the people, 
and returned their greetings with the most 
engaging affability, saying to the immense 



192 CHAPTER X. 

crowd which surrounded him " I do not come 
as an enemy; I bring you peace and commerce." 

As he passed the famous column in the Place 
Venddme on which a statue of Buonaparte stood, 
he said, smiling, "It is no wonder a man's head 
should become giddy, when he stands at such a 
height." 

Somebody saying to him, " Your arrival has 
long been expected and wished for at Paris. 
He replied, "I would have come sooner; attri- 
bute my delay only to French valour." Mean- 
time cabal was not idle. 

While Count Nesselrode, by the advice of 
Talleyrand, drew up the declaration of the 
allied monarchs, that they would no more treat 
with Napoleon, a great circle of nobles and 
royalists assembled in the Fauxbourg Saint 
Honore, under the direction of Ferrand, Roche- 
foucault, and Chateaubriand, to draw up ad- 
dresses to the monarchs, soliciting them to 



CHAPTER X. 193 

expel Napoleon for ever, and to re-establish the 
Bourbons on the throne of France. The depu- 
tation set out, and Count Nesselrode at least 
gave the assurance, that they would not treat 
with Napoleon. But if we may believe the 
Abbe* de Pradt, and his assertions have not 
yet been contradicted, the Emperor of Rus- 
sia himself was very far from believing it to be 
the general wish, and desire of the French 
nation to see the ancient dynasty restored: 
for such a desire had been manifested in hardlv 
any of the provinces through which the allied 
armies had marched. A declaration of the Em- 
peror Alexander, published immediately on his 
entrance into Paris, confirmed the pacific as- 
surances expressed in the proclamation of the 
commander in-chief, Prince Schwartzenberg, 
adding however that the allied sovereigns would 
no more treat with Napoleon Buonaparte, or any 
member of his family ; this latter part had not 
been so clearly stated the preceding day. 

The Emperor of Russia took up his residence 
o 



194 CHAPTER X. 

in the palace of Talleyrand. This old minister 
had received orders to follow the empress to 
the Loire, but he caused himself to be stopped 
at the barrier, and brought back to Paris, to 
receive the allies. A provisional government 
having been formed, by a decree of the senate 
of the first of April, it was resolved, after vari- 
ous negociations and intrigues, to re-establish 
the house of Bourbon on the throne. On the 
2nd of April, Buonaparte was deprived of the 
crown by a decree of the senate, and on the 1 1th 
he signed the act of his abdication, by which 
he agreed to renounce the throne, stipu- 
lating only for the title of emperor, the full 
sovereignty of the isle of Elba, a revenue of 
two millions of francs, &c, all which was rea- 
dily granted him. Under these circumstances 
the war was at an end ; an armistice with all the 
French generals was concluded on the 9th of 
April, and a promise given, that the allied 
armies should leave France as soon as possible. 
Most of the fortresses, beyond the ancient 
boundaries of France, opened their gates, and 



CHAPTER X. 195 

those within them submitted to Louis XVIIL 
The one who held out the longest was Davoust, 
who did not leave till the 29th of May, the city 
of Hamburg, which had suffered so cruelly 
under his tyranny. The capitulation of Paris 
decided also the fate of Italy, where, however, 
nothing very decisive had taken place. An 
armistice was concluded on the 16th of April, 
and Prince Eugene, the viceroy of Italy, gave 
up the command of his troops to Count Belle- 
garde, and repaired to Paris. 

During the time that Alexander remained in 
Paris, he viewed all the public institutions and 
establishments, as if he had had no other object 
in his visit to the capital. He received, with the 
greatest affability, deputations from various 
learned bodies, his answers to which were 
marked by great frankness, and by the most 
flattering expressions of his esteem for the 
French nation. On the 2nd of April he gave 
an audience to the senate, and having received 
the compliments of that body, said, " A man, 

o 2 



196 CHAPTER X. 

who called himself my ally, entered my domi- 
nions, like an unjust aggressor ; it is against him 
I have made war, and not against France ; I 
am the friend of the French people. What you 
have just done, increases this sentiment: it is 
just, it is wise, to give to France strong and 
liberal institutions, which are adapted to this 
enlightened age. My allies and myself come 
only to protect the liberty of your decisions." 

The emperor paused a moment, and then 
resumed with emotion : " As a proof of the last- 
ing alliance which I desire to make with your 
nation, I restore to it all the French prisoners, 
now in Russia. The provisional government 
had asked me for this favour : I grant it to the 
senate, in consequence of the resolutions which 
it has this day taken." 

The next day Alexander visited the Jdrdin 
des Plantes. On coming out, he crossed the 
bridge of Austerlitz, accompanied by only two 
officers. Stopping a few minutes, he turned to 



CHAPTER X. 197 

the crowd which surrounded him, and said, 
" My friends rejoice, Buonaparte has ceased to 
oppress you. In a week you will have your 
king and peace." 

The following is the answer which he re- 
turned to M. de Lacre telle, who waited upon 
him at the head of a deputation of the institute 
of France: "I have always admired the pro- 
gress which the French have made in the 
sciences and literature. They have greatly con- 
tributed to diffuse knowledge over Europe. I 
do not impute to them the misfortunes of their 
country, and I feel a lively interest in the re- 
establishment of their liberty. To be service- 
able to mankind, is the sole object of my con- 
duct, and the only motive which has brought 
me to France." 

The emperor went to the most celebrated 
banking-house at Paris, and, asking for M. 
Lafitte, who did not know him, said—" 1 
have wished, sir, to be acquainted with you : 



198 CHAPTER X. 

I am Alexander, and desire the pleasure of 
breakfasting with you." 

When visiting the institution of Madame 
Campan, at Ecouen, Alexander observed, that 
if the allied armies had been obliged to remain 
four days longer in the plains of St. Denis their 
ammunition would certainly have been exhaus- 
ted. 

Meantime, Louis XVIII. left England, 
where he had so long lived in obscurity, and 
landed on the 25th of April at Calais, with the 
Duchess of Angouleme, the old Prince of Cond6, 
and his son the Duke of Bourbon. They were 
welcomed with the most extravagant acclama- 
tions, which accompanied him all the way to 
Compiegne, where he arrived on the 27th of 
April, and was received by several of the mar- 
shals. There was no want of flattering com- 
pliments and affecting phrases. But though 
Louis in his answers, proved that he was a 
Frenchman, who perfectly understood the cha- 



CHAPTER X. 199 

racter of his nation, he must have despised in 
his heart, the meanness of these satellites of the 
usurper. Numerous deputations from Paris 
waited upon him at Compiegne, each of which 
gave occasion to a similar comedy. Alexander 
paid him a visit there, on the 30th April, in a 
very plain carriage, accompanied only by Ge- 
neral CzernitschefT, and a single servant: he 
slept soundly on the journey, feeling himself 
as perfectly safe on the high road in France, 
as if he had been in St. Petersburg. The 
French were extremely pleased with this cir- 
cumstance, which was, in their eyes, a flattering 
proof of the emperor's confidence in them. 

Another circumstance which gratified the 
Parisians, was the attention that Alexander 
paid to the Empress Josephine. He had a 
great esteem for her, and did her the honour 
of dining with her more than once at the palace 
of Malmaison. 

When he learned that she was on the point of 



200 CHAPTER X. 

sinking under the rapid and cruel disease, of 
which he saw the symptoms some days before, 
he repaired immediately to Malmaison, and 
asked to see her. She seemed to recover a 
little when she saw him. Deeply affected by 
the scene before her, she looked at him with an 
air of gratitude : Prince Eugene, on his knees, 
was receiving the benediction of his mother, 
as well as Queen Hortensia, who was in a situ- 
ation, which it is impossible to describe. "At 
least," said Josephine, with a voice almost ex- 
piring, " I shall die regretted. I have always 
desired the welfare of France ; I have done all 
in my power to contribute to it, and I can say 
with truth to you, who are present at my last 
moments, that the first wife of Napoleon Buo- 
naparte, never caused a tear to be shed." These 
were her last words. Alexander shewed the 
most sincere sorrow, his eyes remained fixed 
on the mortal remains of the wife of a man who 
was proscribed and unfortunate ; the young 
hero, honoured by his presence, the last mo- 
ments of a woman so universally regretted. 



CHAPTER X. 201 

He withdrew, much affected, and returned some 
hours after ; approaching the coffin, he lifted 
up the shroud, which already covered her, and 
with his eyes bathed in tears, took a final leave 
of her, saying, " She is dead, and leaves an eter- 
nal regret in the heart of her friends, and of all 
those who have known her." 

Accompanied by the King of Prussia, Ge- 
neral Sacken, and several other generals of 
distinction, he attended the funeral to the little 
church of the village. 

On the 8th of May, Alexander, accompanied 
by his two brothers and the King of Prussia, 
visited Versailles. He wished to testify his 
gratitude to the inhabitants, for the care they 
had taken of the wounded Russians, and wrote 
the following letter to the mayor : — 

" I have been informed, sir, of the zealous, 
kind, and constant attention, paid at Versailles 
to the wounded of my armies. I am very sen- 



202 CHAPTER X. 

sible to a zeal, which does honour to humanity. 
I besides, owe my thanks to yourself person- 
ally, and have wished to give you a particular 
proof of my esteem and my sentiments, 

Alexander." 

In a visit which he paid to the mint, and 
especially that part of it where the medals 
are made, he was presented, among others, 
that were struck in his presence, with an 
ancient medal, engraved on the occasion of the 
visit of Peter the Great, to the capital of 
France. On one side is the head of the Re- 
gent, and on the other the figure of the Czar, 
and that of Louis XV. yet a child : with the 
following inscription Petri Russorurn Autocra- 
toris cum rege congressio. MDCCXVII. 

This medal puts us in mind of a curious 
anecdote. When the Czar Peter went to see 
Louis XV. he did not know what was the eti- 
quette to be observed towards a king, who was 



CHAPTER X. 



203 



scarcely eight years old. Following the im- 
pulse of his heart, and to remove all difficulties, 
he took the young monarch in his arms, and 
kissed him. 

In one of the apartments the director had the 
honour to present him a medal, which had on one 
side the head of the Czar Peter, and on the other 
his own portrait. His majesty examined with 
particular interest, the numerous collections in 
the cabinet of Dies, which presents the series of 
the most memorable events that have happened 
in France since the time of Louis XII. " I take 
great pleasure," said the emperor, " in seeing 
these archives of the most civilised ages of 
France, and I am sensible how important it is 
for a powerful nation to possess a history 
which speaks to the eyes ? and is, as it were, 
always living." 

When he visited the palace Tuileries, the Hall 
of Peace was shown him. " Of what use," 
said he, " was this hall to Buonaparte." 



204 CHAPTER X. 

On entering the gallery of the Museum^ 
Alexander was extremely struck with the fine 
coup d'ceil of that unequalled collection, and 
exclaimed : " It will take ten days to see such 
a beautiful collection !" and having observed 
that several pictures had been carried away,, 
doubtless to preserve them, in the first confu- 
sion, he said : " My intentions would have been 
very ill-judged of, if the smallest fear had been 
entertained for the safety of the museum." 

The celebrated Madam de Stael, who was in 
London when the Allies entered Paris, imme- 
diately returned to France, and was received 
in the most gracious manner by the allied sove- 
reigns. The Emperor of Russia conversing with 
her on the difficulties which opposed the intro- 
duction of a constitution into Russia, she re- 
plied, " Sire, your character is a constitution." 

On the 3rd of May, Louis XVIII. made his 
solemn entry into Paris, and to avoid giving 
any offence to the pride of the Parisians, he 



CHAPTER X. 205 

was not accompanied by the allied sovereigns, 
or any of their troops. Even in the cathedral, 
the King of Prussia, mingled, without distinc- 
tion, in the crowd of spectators : only the Grand 
Duke Constantine was present, in full uniform, 
with his whole staff. On the 5th, Prince 
Schwartzenberg resigned the chief command, 
and the allied armies began to return rapidly 
towards the Rhine. On the 10th the king is- 
sued a proclamation, assuring the people, that 
all the military contributions imposed by the 
allied troops, should cease. Indeed the allied 
monarchs were so condescending, that Baron 
Stein, who was at the head of the central ad- 
ministration, published a declaration on the 9th, 
that all the provinces given up to the allies by 
the armistice, should be immediately placed 
under commissioners, appointed by the king, 
as far as the civil administration was con- 
cerned. 

Yet the hearts of the vain French overflowed 
with ill-suppressed rage, at the presence of the 



206 CHAPTER X. 

foreign troops whom they would by no means 
acknowledge as their conquerors. The remo- 
val of the trophies, colours, &c, from the Hotel 
des Invalides, deeply wounded the military 
pride of the French soldiers. Secret murders 
and continual duels, were the order of the 
day, notwithstanding the vigorous measures, 
adopted by General Sacken, Governor of Paris, 
to maintain order and tranquillity. Meantime 
negociations were carried on with great activity, 
and on the 30th May, was concluded the cele- 
brated peace of Paris, between Austria, Russia, 
England, and Prussia on the one side, and France 
on the other. About the same time Alexander 
left Paris, having by his co-operation in restor- 
ing the family of the Bourbons to the throne, 
realised the hope expressed by De Lille at the 
conclusion of his celebrated poem "Le Malheur 
et la Piete," where after commemorating the 
marriage of the Duke and Duchess d'Angou- 
leme, which took place at Mietau, in Courland, 
on the 10th of July 1799, he addresses Alexan- 
der in the following beautiful lines : — 



CHAPTER X. 207 

C'est ton heureux pays qui vit former leurs chaines, 
Toi, qui du nord charme viens de saisir les renes, 
Jeune et digne heritier de 1'empire des czars ! 
Sur toi le monde entier a fixe ses regards. 
Quels prodiges nouveaux vont signaler ta course ! 
Tel que Pastre du nord, le char brillant de Pourse, 
Toujours visible aux yeux dans ton climat glace, 
Comme un phare eternel par les dieux fut place. 
Ton regard vigilant, du fond du pole arctique, 
Sans cesse eclairera 1'horizon politique. 
Ta sagesse saura combien est dangereux 
Le succes corrupteur des attentats heureux. 
Oui, tu protegeras ce prince deplorable, 
Que releve a tes yeux une chute honorable ; 
Qui, d'un ceil paternel pleurant des fils ingrats, 
L'olive dans la main en vain leur tend les bras. 
Quel malheur plus touchant, quelle cause plus juste 
Heclament le secours de ta puissance auguste ? 
Souviens-toi de ton nom : Alexandre autrefois 
Fit monter un vieillard sur le tr6ne des rois. 
Sur le front de Louis tu mettras la couronne : 
Le sceptre le plus beau c'est celui que Von donne. 

On the 4th of June, Alexander arrived at 
Boulogne where the English squadron com- 
manded by the Duke of Clarence was in sight- 



i 



208 CHAPTER X. 

His royal highness landed to pay a visit to the 
emperor. The following day Alexander went 
to view the port, whence he repaired to the site 
of Buonaparte's camp at Boulogne. As he was 
on foot, a crowd of persons surrounded him, 
whom his attendants several times, attempted 
to keep off, but the emperor forbid it, saying, 
" Let every body approach me, no Frenchman, 
will ever be troublesome to me." At four 
o'clock the King of Prussia arrived. The Em- 
peror immediately went to see him, and they 
passed some time together. The two sove- 
reigns embarked on the 6th of June, and arriv- 
ing on the 7th at Calais, went on board the 
royal yachts of his Britannic majesty. The 
English squadron was commanded by his royal 
highness the Duke of Clarence. 



209 



CHAPTER XL 

It was at six o'clock in the evening of the 7th 
of June that the royal visitors landed at Dover, 
where they were received with a salute of artil- 
lery, and the joyful acclamations of immense 
multitudes. His royal highness the Prince Re- 
gent had appointed Lords Yarmouth, Bentinck, 
and Roslyn to attend on the sovereigns. The 
rejoicings continued the whole night, and even 
increased at day break, for which reason the 
two monarchs resolved to proceed to London 
as privately as possible ; Alexander in the car- 
riage of his ambassador, and Frederic William 
in one of the stage coaches. 

But the burden of the most joyful reception 
had fallen, at Dover, on the veteran Bliicher. 



210 CHAPTER XI. 

Amidst the incessant cries of " Bliicher for 
ever! he was carried to the inn. Men and 
women embraced and kissed him, begged a 
piece of his great coat for a relic, besieged and 
pressed him in such a manner, that with tears 
of joy in his eyes, he exclaimed, " I sink under 
the honour that is shown me." The following 
day he proceeded to London. 

At six o'clock Marshal Bliicher arrived in 
St. James's Park, by the Horse Guards, in the 
Prince Regent's open carriage, escorted by a 
party of light horse. The drivers, as directed, 
made first for Carlton House. No sooner were 
the stable gates opened than there was a general 
rush of the horsemen and the public at large. 
All restraint upon them was in vain; the two 
sentinels at the gates with their muskets, were 
laid on the ground ; the porter was completely 
overpowered, and it was with the greatest dif- 
ficulty that he could shut the gates. The mul- 
titude proceeded up the yard of Carlton House, 



CHAPTER XI. 211 

with the general's carriage, shouting the praises 
of Bliicher. Colonels Bloomfield and Congreve 
came out, dressed in fall regimentals, received 
the general uncovered, and conducted him to 
the principal entrance of Carlton House. The 
crowd assembled in Pall Mall, instantly scaled 
the walls and lodges in great numbers ; 
their impetuous zeal upon this occasion was 
indulged, and the great doors of the hall were 
thrown open to them, and some of the horse- 
men had nearly entered the hall. After the 
first interview of the general with the prince, a 
very interesting scene took place. The Prince 
Regent returned with the gallant Bliicher, 
from his private apartments, and in the centre 
of the grand hall, surrounded by the people, 
placed a blue ribbon on his shoulder, fastening 
it with his own hand, to which was hung a 
beautiful medallion, with a likeness of the 
prince, richly set with diamonds. Marshal 
Bliicher knelt, while the prince was conferring 
this honour, and, on his rising, kissed the 
prince's hand. The prince and the general 

p 2 



212 



CHAPTER XI. 



bowed to the public, whose acclamations in 
return exceeded description. 

While this was passing, the King of Prussia 
had arrived at the residence of the Duke of 
Clarence, and the Emperor Alexander, at the 
Pulteney Hotel, where his sister, the Grand 
Duchess of Oldenburg, who had arrived in 
England at the end of March, met him on the 
stairs. They saluted each other in the most 
affectionate manner. Lord Morton, the queen's 
chamberlain, waited upon the emperor, in the 
name of the queen, to express her congratula- 
tions on his arrival in England. 

At half-past four o'clock the emperor went 
in Count Lieven's carriage, accompanied by 
his excellency, to see the Prince Regent, at 
Carlton House. He was received in a very 
private manner, by the Prince Regent, who 
gave his majesty a most cordial reception. The 
King of Prussia came in the same private man- 
ner, and was received by his royal highness 



CHAPTER XI. 213 

the Prince Regent as the Emperor of Russia 
had been. 

Illuminations, more splendid perhaps than 
were ever before witnessed in the metropolis, 
took place on this and the two following even- 
ings. On the 9th, was one of the most bril- 
liant courts ever held at Carlton House. All 
the royal dukes, the Duchess of York, and 
several noblemen came in state. Besides the 
two sovereigns, there were many foreign 
princes, and a great number of the most dis- 
tinguished officers of the allied armies. The 
King of Prussia arrived first, with his sons. 
At a quarter past three the Emperor of Russia 
came in state, in the Regent's carriage, es- 
corted by a party of the Bays. His majesty 
was dressed in an English uniform, and wore 
the order of the garter. He was met at the 
door of Carlton House by the Prince Regent, 
who conducted him to his closet, where they 
were dressed in the robes of the garter. 



214 



CHAPTER XI. 



A procession, consisting of a great number 
of knights of the garter, was formed from the 
closet to the chapter room. Then walked the 
Prince Regent, having on his right hand the 
Emperor Alexander, wearing his mantle and 
collar. The Prince Regent's train was held by- 
Sir William Keppel, groom in waiting ; and the 
Emperor of Russia's by the Earl of Yarmouth. 
The Prince Regent took his seat on the throne, 
having on his right hand a chair of state, in 
which the Emperor was placed, and a vacant 
chair on his left for the King of Prussia. 

The chancellor then, by his royal highness's 
direction, read a new statute, whereby, after 
complimenting the King of Prussia, upon the 
heroism, military skill, and personal intrepidity, 
which had created the just admiration of Ger- 
many during the late contest, now auspiciously 
terminated in the blessings of peace, the 
king was declared elected a knight of the 
garter. His majesty was then introduced to 



CHAPTER XI. 215 

the chapter, between the Dukes of York and 
Kent, and was invested with the insignia of the 
order. His majesty received the accolade 
from the Prince Regent, and afterwards from 
all the royal knights and others, and was 
seated in a chair of state. The chancellor then 
read a statute, declaring the resolution of the 
Prince Regent to elect the Emperor of Austria 
also a knight of the order. 

Among the English noblemen presented to 
the Emperor of Russia^ was Lord Erskine, to 
whom his majesty gave a letter, which he had 
promised to deliver with his own hand. "It 
is," said he, " from my friend and preceptor, 
M. de Laharpe, to whom I owe the principles 
which shall serve as the guide of my heart and 
my mind during the whole of my life." 

The Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, 
and the prince, accompanied by a number of 
persons of distinction, paid a visit to the Uni- 
versity of Oxford on the 14th. They were 



2 1 6 CHAPTER XI. 

received on their entrance, in grand ceremony, 
by all the authorities, academic and civic, of 
the place: and in the evening, a sumptuous 
banquet was given to the illustrious guests, in 
the Radcliff Library, a place never before 
applied to such a purpose, but excellently 
adapted to it. A general illumination took 
place at night ; and on the following day, the 
royal and noble party were received at the 
theatre, where degrees were conferred upon 
the emperor and the king, and some of the 
illustrious attendants, one of whom was the 
veteran Bliicher. The emperor and king then 
went to the Town Hall, where they received 
the freedom of the city ; after which they left 
Oxford for Woodstock and Blenheim. 

On the return of the sovereigns to London, 
splendid entertainments were given in their 
honour. On the 17th, the merchants and 
bankers gave them a grand dinner at Merchant 
Taylors' Hall, at which the Duke of York pre- 
sided ; and on the following day a far more 



CHAPTER XI. 



magnificent banquet was given by the Lord 
Mayor and Corporation at Guildhall. The 
interior of which was, on this occasion, fitted 
up with a grandeur unequalled on any former 
occasion. 

The City of London having presented an 
address to the emperor, he returned the follow- 
ing answer: — <e I thank you for this obliging 
and flattering address. I have long desired 
to visit this country ; and it is with particular 
satisfaction, that I am at present among you, 
when after a war full of glory, peace has been 
restored to Europe. — This peace, I am persua- 
ded, will long constitute the happiness of man- 
kind. Assure your fellow-citizens that the 
English nation has always had my esteem. Its 
conduct, during the long and perilous war in 
which we have been engaged, commands my 
admiration, as it commands the admiration of 
the whole world. I have been the faithful 
ally of Great Britain during the war, and I 



218 CHAPTER XI. 

desire to continue its devoted friend during 
peace." 

During the visit of the sovereigns to London 
the anniversary of the assembly of the charity 
children at St. Paul's took place, and the Em- 
peror of Russia went incognito to witness this 
interesting solemnity. He seemed very much 
struck and even affected, by the simple yet im- 
pressive grandeur of the scene. He paid the 
greatest attention throughout, and at the con- 
clusion requested to be taken into the organ- 
loft, in order to enjoy the most advantageous 
view. " This," said he, pressing the hand of 
the reverend gentleman who had the honour of 
attending him, " is the most interesting and 
gratifying sight that I have ever met with." 

On the 20th, a grand review of all the regular 
troops, and most of the volunteers, in and near 
the metropolis, took place in Hyde Park, before 
the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, 



CHAPTER XI. 



219 



and all the illustrious foreigners accompanying 
them, and of the Prince Regent, the Duke of 
York, &c. 

The grandest and most appropriate spectacle 
presented to the royal visitants, in this country, 
was the naval review of eighty men of war at 
Portsmouth. The Prince Regent, who ar- 
rived first in the harbour, was received by the 
Duke of Clarence, eighty-nine admirals and 
captains, and ten thousand sailors. On the 
morning of the 23rd he embarked in the roads, 
with the sovereigns, attended by a splendid 
and numerous retinue. The procession was 
opened by the long boats of fifteen ships of the 
line ; these were followed by the Lords of the 
Admiralty, in their barges. The Royal Sove- 
reign yacht was decorated with the British flag, 
while the eagles of Russia and Prussia adorned 
the accompanying vessels. Countless boats 
followed. The sea was smooth as a mirror, 
and not a breath of air was stirring. The 
royal procession proceeded to the fleet an- 



220 CHAPTER XI. 

chored in a line in the outer road, each ship 
firing forty-two guns as the monarch passed. 

Two days were employed in surveys of the 
harbour, of the vast naval establishments and 
stupendous machinery of that port. The con- 
cluding day, a fleet, consisting of fifteen sail of 
the line, and about as many frigates, formed a 
line in front of the Isle of Wight ; and having 
received, with a general salute, the royal visi- 
tants on board, the Royal Sovereign yacht 
stood out to sea, and performed some of the 
manoeuvres of a naval engagement. The whole 
was calculated to impress the illustrious stran- 
gers with the most lively ideas of the national 
power and greatness. 

On the 27th, Alexander, with his sister the 
Duchess of Oldenburg, and the King of Prussia, 
with his two sons, embarked at Dover, on their 
return to the Continent, after a visit to this 
country, which appeared to have given them 
general satisfaction. 



CHAPTER XI. 221 

The emperor, having landed at Rotterdam, 
proceeded to the Hague and to Amsterdam, 
where, as at all the places through which he 
passed, he was received with every mark of 
honour and respect. Alexander hastening, 
made only a short stay in Holland, but did not 
omit to pay a visit to Saardam, to view the 
house in which Peter the Great resided. The 
house which that sovereign first entered on 
his arrival, August, 1697, was prepared for the 
reception of the emperor and the Prince of 
Orange, who accompanied him. The house 
was fitted up with Dutch neatness. In the 
parlour was a fine portrait of Peter the Great, 
in armour. The emperor and the prince were 
received by sixteen daughters of the magis- 
trates, in the dress of Saardam. The illustrious 
visitors testified their satisfaction at their re- 
ception, and then went to the house of the Czar 
Peter, which had simply this inscription — " To 
the great man nothing is too little^ The emperor 
having visited the dock where Peter engaged 
himself as a workman, came to the house. The 



222 CHAPTER XT. 

prince led him in, and one could immediately 
see the impression which the immense contrast 
of the simple dwelling, with the power and 
splendour of its former inhabitant, and so many- 
other recollections, could not fail to inspire. 
The prince requested the emperor to leave a 
memorial of this remarkable visit ; and all having 
been prepared, Alexander, with a silver trowel, 
fixed in the chimney a square tablet of white 
marble, on which was inscribed, in golden let- 
ters, " Petro Magno — Alexander" 

On leaving Holland, Alexander proceeded di- 
rectly to Carlsrushe, where he met his imperial 
consort, the Empress Elizabeth, who had been 
there for some time on a visit to her family. She 
did not return to St. Petersburg with him, and 
her absence from that capital is said, though 
we cannot vouch for the fact, to have been 
caused by jealousy of the emperor's attachment 
to a lady of the court, whom he was induced 
to send with her children to Paris. 



CHAPTER XI. 223 

It must be owned that it is scarcely possible 
to make it more difficult for a man to remain 
true to himself, than has been done with respect 
to Alexander. Flatterers attempted on every 
side to gain an influence over him, and the pub- 
lic journals of every place, which the emperor 
honoured with his presence, seemed to watch 
all his steps, in order to sound his praise, in 
every possible variety of courtly phraseology. 
Even the Russian senate attempted to intoxicate 
their excellent sovereign with clouds of in- 
cense, solemnly resolving to give him the sur- 
name of The Blessed, and really deputed three 
senators, Kurakin, TormassofF, and SoltikofF, in 
the middle of May, from St. Petersburg, to 
convey this resolution to the emperor. 

When this deputation was presented to him 
at Weimar, and begged him to accept the 
honorary title, and to allow a monument to be 
erected to him, Alexander replied, with that 
genuine modesty which can confer more honour 
than all titles, " I have always endeavoured to 



224 CHAPTER XI. 

give the nation the example of simplicity and 
modesty; I cannot accept the title offered to 
me, without deviating from my principles ; and 
as for the monument, it is for posterity to erect 
one to me if they think me worthy of it." 

At Carlsruhe he was joined by the empress 
his wife ; he made however only a short stay in 
that city, but hastened to St. Petersburg. Be- 
fore he entered that capital he addressed the 
following rescript to the governor ; " Sergei 
Kosmitsch. I have been informed that various 
preparations are making for my reception. I 
have always disliked these things, and disapprove 
of them still more at the present moment. The 
events which have put an end to the sanguinary 
wars in Europe, are the work of the Almighty 
alone. Before him we must all kneel. Make 
known, this unalterable resolution, that no pre- 
parations, whatsoever, may be made to wel- 
come me." 

It was on the 25th of July, that Alexander 



CHAPTER XI. 225 

arrived at St. Petersburg, and repaired first to 
the cathedral of the Mother of God of Kasan, 
to return thanks to heaven. He then drove 
to the imperial winter palace, and thence 
to Kamennoyostroff, his usual summer resi- 
dence. The people received him with joyful 
acclamations. On the following day solemn 
thanksgivings were put up in the cathedral of 
Kasan, at which the emperor, the Empress 
Maria, the Grand Duke Constantine, the Grand 
Duchess Anna, all the chief officers of state, 
the diplomatic body, and a great number of 
persons of distinction were present. The em- 
peror went to the church on horseback, followed 
by multitudes of people of all ages, who with 
loud acclamations, crowded around their be- 
loved sovereign, some raising their hands in 
gratitude to heaven, while old men, overpowered 
by their feelings, kissed the emperor's feet. 
The metropolitan, Ambrosius, accompanied by 
the archbishops and all the clergy, received 
the emperor in the church, and performed di- 
vine service. After prayers, Te Deum was 

Q 



226 



CHAPTER XI. 



sung, accompanied by a salute of artillery, and 
the ringing of allf the bells. The whole city, 
was splendidly illuminated on three successive 
nights. 

Very soon after the emperor's return, Count 
Nesselrode was appointed minister of foreign 
affairs, in the place of Count Romanzoff, who 
was permitted to resign, on which occasion, he 
received a most gracious letter from the em- 
peror, expressing his gratitude for his services, 
and his regret at parting with him. Count 
Romanzoff retired from public service, like a 
true patriot, renouncing not only the emolu- 
ments of his office, which the emperor had 
continued to him, but giving all the valuable 
presents, which he had received from foreign 
courts, to be disposed of for the benefit of the 
invalids, for which he again received the thanks 
of the emperor. 

The following ukase, addressed to the Synod, 
the Council of the Empire, and the Directing 



CHAPTER XI. 



227 



Senate, entirely expresses the sentiments which 
Alexander manifested on every occasion during 
his life : — 

" The application made to me by the Holy 
Synod, the Council of the Empire, and the 
Directing Senate, respecting the erection of a 
monument to me in the capital, and the accept- 
ance of the title of " the Blessed," gives me 
great pleasure, because I recognise in it, partly, 
the blessing of God that watches over us, and 
partly, the sentiments of the public bodies of 
the Russian empire, who give me the most flat- 
tering name. My whole efforts are directed to 
implore by fervent prayer, the blessing of God, 
upon myself and my faithful people, and to be 
blessed by my beloved and loyal subjects, and 
by the whole human race in general. This is 
my most ardent wish, and my greatest happi- 
ness. But with all my endeavours to attain it, 
I cannot, as a man, allow myself to be so pre- 
sumptuous as to accept this name, and to ima- 
gine that I have already obtained this happiness. 

Q 2 



228 CHAPTER XI. 

I consider it as the more incompatible with my 
principles, because I have at all times, and on 
all occasions, exhorted my faithful subjects to 
modesty and humility, and I will, therefore, 
not give an example which would contradict 
these sentiments. At the same time, there- 
fore, that I hereby express my entire gratitude, 
I beg the public bodies of the empire to aban- 
don all such designs. May a monument be 
erected to me in your hearts, as it is to you in 
mine. May my people bless me, in their hearts, 
as in mine I bless them. May Russia be happy, 
and may the Divine Blessing watch over her 
and over me." 

About- the same time, an imperial ukase was 
addressed to the synod, direc ting that henceforth 
thanksgivings should be performed annually 
on the 25th of December, and that day marked 
in the calendar, by the name, " Nativity of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, and commemoration of 
the deliverance of the Russian church and em- 
pire from the invasion of the Gauls, and twenty 



CHAPTER XI. 229 

nations allied with them." On the 30th of 
August, the anniversary of the battle of Kulm, 
the emperor issued an address to the army : 
"The empire is grateful to you for your ser- 
vices, and the hardships which you have en- 
dured. I thank you in its name, and congra- 
tulate you on your return to your country. 
Your heroic deeds have always attracted my 
attention. I invite all those who have returned 
home from this glorious war, crippled or 
wounded, to come to me, to receive the re- 
wards they deserve. " 

A committee, composed of several generals, 
was appointed to examine the claims of the 
officers, who left the army, on account of 
wounds or sickness. In the true spirit of hu- 
manity, a free pardon was granted to all per- 
sons who had been misled to hold inter- 
course with the enemy. All debts to the go- 
vernment, not exceeding 2000 rubles, were 
excused. A general mitigation of sentences 
passed upon criminals was granted, and an 



230 CHAPTER XI. 

assurance given, that there should be no levy 
of recruits that year. In those governments 
which had suffered the most by the war, the 
peasants were excused from paying the arrears 
of poll-tax. As a remarkable instance of 
justice, it deserves to be mentioned, that by 
order of the emperor, notice was given in the 
principal German journals, to the effect, that 
as the inhabitants of Germany, who, during 
the war had received their payment in Russian 
bank notes, might find it difficult to dispose of 
them at their true value, offices were esta- 
blished in Berlin and Konigsberg, where all 
persons who applied with such bank notes, 
should receive the value of them, according 
to the actual rate of exchange. 

Even during the war, the Russian American 
company had carried on a profitable trade, rich 
cargoes of furs had arrived at Ochotzk, and it 
appeared that the company possessed in ships, 
stock, &c. a capital of above five millions of 
rubles. 



CHAPTER XI. 231 

According to the arrangements made by the 
sovereigns, at Paris, respecting the assembling 
of a congress at Vienna, to regulate the affairs 
of Europe ; the monarchs and princes who 
were to take part in it, assembled at Vienna, in 
the months of September and October; but so 
many preparations were to be made, that the 
congress did not open till the 3rd of Novem- 
ber. The proceedings in this august assembly 
are well known, as well as the differences which 
arose on some important points, especially the 
partition of Saxony, and the fate of Poland, 
which Alexander required to be established as 
an independent kingdom, of which he should 
be king, promising to introduce a constitutio- 
nal government. It was confidently reported, 
at the time, that if this demand had not been 
complied with, Russia was disposed to main- 
tain its pretensions by arms. The congress, 
however, agreed to all that Alexander required, 
and in January, 1815, he was recognised as 
King of Poland. This was much the same 



232 CHAPTER XI. 

thing as giving him the Protectorate of the 
continent. 

At the same time Alexander obtained the 
cession of entire provinces from Persia. He 
extended the Russian dominion along the 
Black Sea, to the shores of the Bosphorus; so 
that the cabinet of St. Petersburg had it almost 
in its power, to oblige Persia to declare war 
against the Ottoman Porte, whenever the interest 
of Russia required. The congress of Vienna, 
which was distinguished by political acts of 
the highest importance to Europe, was likewise 
remarkable for royal hunting parties, and the 
numerous f&tes given to the sovereigns, who 
lavished on each other expressions of their 
reciprocal esteem. The labours of the con- 
gress were nearly at an end, when news arrived 
that Buonaparte had left the island of Elba, 
landed in France, and was marching rapidly 
to Paris. This news retained the allied sove- 
reigns at Vienna. They engaged by a treaty, 



CHAPTER XI. 233 

signed by the plenipotentiaries of all the 
powers, to employ all the forces of their re- 
spective states, in order to cause the articles 
and conditions of the treaty of Paris of the 30th 
of May 1814, to be executed; to maintain in- 
violate, the resolutions taken by the congress 
of Vienna ; to defend them against all attacks, 
and especially against the plans of Napoleon 
Buonaparte, whom, by a declaration of the 15th 
of March, they had declared to be out of the 
pale of the law of nations. 

In order to carry these resolutions into 
effect, a mass of 400,000 men was collected. 
The Duke of Wellington urged the sovereigns 
to hasten the march of these troops. Alexan- 
der ordered the three corps which formed the 
Russian army, to march immediately. Napo- 
leon on his arrival at Paris, soon manifested his 
intention of governing France with the same 
despotism as before. He gave his confidence 
to the same men who had been branded with 
public contempt, after the cessation of their 



143 CHAPTER XI. 

authority. Lastly, by his "additional act," 
he violated all the national liberties, which in 
his decrees from Lyons, he had promised to 
restore. He flattered himself that the sove- 
reigns would consent to treat of peace with 
him, and when he found himself obliged to 
renounce this absurd hope, he could not pre- 
vail upon himself to sacrifice his ancient des- 
potism, and to address the patriotism of the 
French, but devoted them to carry on war in 
defence of his imperial dignity. Sensible how 
important it was for him to strike a first deci- 
sive blow, he proceeded to attack the English 
and Prussian armies in Belgium, where, in 
spite of the first advantages over the Prussians, 
he lost, on the 18th of June, the ever memo- 
rable battle of Waterloo, which ended in the 
total rout of the French army, and irrevocably 
decided, in a few hours, his own fate, and that 
of France. 

As soon as the result of the battle of Water- 
loo was known at Vienna, Alexander caused 



CHAPTER XI. 235 

his armies to halt, with the exception of the 
corps of Barclay de Tolly, which received 
orders to advance into France. Alexander 
arrived at Paris, on the 11th of July, 1815. 
He appears not to have been received in that 
capital with the same kind of enthusiasm as in 
the preceding year. Nor did his manners 
shew that affability which had distinguished 
him from the other sovereigns, during his first 
visit to the French capital. The restoration of 
1814 was the result of the successes obtained 
by the Russian army, the restoration of 1815 
was due to England, and the influence of the 
cabinet of London, appeared to preponderate 
in the affairs of France. 

Though the Russian troops had had no 
share in the operations of the campaign, which 
was over in a few days, Alexander, however, 
made a remarkable display of the military 
force of his empire, in a grand review of a hun- 
dred and fifty thousand men in the plain of 
Vertus, a short time before he left Paris, to 



236 



CHAPTER XI. 



return to his own country. While at Paris he 
proposed to the Emperor of Austria and the 
King of Prussia to bind themselves together 
by indissoluble ties, and on the 26th of Septem- 
ber, the three sovereigns signed the celebrated 
act, for it cannot properly be called a treaty, 
known by the name of the Holy Alliance, in 
which they professed the principles of evange- 
lical charity and piety. They invited all 
princes to enter this alliance, which was to 
secure to Europe, a peace, which policy and 
ambition should never disturb. Most of the 
other sovereigns of Europe subsequently ac- 
ceded to this alliance. Louis XVIII. and the 
King of England, at that time Prince Regent, 
merely expressed their personal approbation, of 
the moral and Christian principles, laid down 
in the act. But though it contains no actual 
stipulations that can entitle it to be considered 
as a political document, or anything more, than 
a mere political creed of the monarchs, de- 
signed to consolidate a pacific system in Europe, 
it cannot be denied that when its principles 



CHAPTER XI. 237 

were to be applied, the sovereigns themselves, 
were the judges and interpreters of it. It was 
therefore susceptible of being employed, or 
even perverted, to the attainment of political 
views, and the subsequent events in Naples, 
Piedmont and Spain have clearly demonstrated 
the truth of this position, and excited a general 
feeling of dislike towards an union, which how- 
ever honourably intended to secure the happi- 
ness of nations, may be made the most formid- 
able instrument of their oppression and degra- 
dation. It has been said that the idea of this 
alliance, originated with the celebrated Ma- 
dame de Kriidener, who certainly affirmed, that 
her holy mission was a consequence of it. 

Alexander, after having reviewed his troops 
in the plains of Champagne, proceeded almost 
immediately to Brussels, to conclude the mar- 
riage of his sister, the Grand Duchess Anne, 
with his royal highness the Prince of Orange ; 
a marriage which insured the prosperity of the 
kingdom, by placing it under the protection of 
Russia. 



238 CHAPTER XI. 

In company of the King of the Netherlands, 
thePrince of Orange, and the Princes of Prussia, 
the emperor visited the field of Waterloo, where 
they examined the several positions, particu- 
larly that which the Prince of Orange occupied, 
when he received his wound. At La Belle 
Alliance, where the emperor took a glass of 
wine, he said, looking at the king and the 
Prince of Orange, " Yes, indeed it is La Belle 
Alliance, as well of the states as of the families. 
God grant that it may be of long duration." After 
a short stay at Brussels, the emperor went 
to Dijon, where there was a grand review of the 
Austrian troops, at which the allied sovereigns, 
and the most distinguished generals, were pre- 
sent. From Dijon the Emperor of Russia went 
to Zurich, and thence through Germany to 
Berlin, where he remained a few days, and 
concluded with the King of Prussia the mar- 
riage of his brother, the Grand Duke Nicholas, 
with the king's daughter, the Princess Charlotte. 

On the 8th of November, the emperor left 



CHAPTER XI. 239 

Berlin, and arrived on the 12th, at Warsaw, 
where he was received with every demonstra- 
tion of joy. He assured the Poles, that he 
would constantly study to promote the prospe- 
rity of the country, and the happiness of the 
people ; that he would carefully examine all 
their requests, and fulfil their wishes, as far 
as circumstances would permit. He likewise 
promised, that in consideration of what that 
country had suffered, the Russian troops should 
quit the kingdom as soon as possible. He 
appointed a government, at the head of which 
was General Zajonczek with the title of viceroy. 
At the same time, the fundamental principles 
of the constitution of the kingdom of Poland, 
in thirty-seven articles, were published. 

On the 3rd of December, the emperor left 
Warsaw, and reached St. Petersburg on the 
13th, at midnight, when he proceeded first to 
the Kasan cathedral, and afterwards to the 
winter palace. Her majesty the Empress 
Elizabeth had returned the preceding day, 



240 CHAPTER XI. 

after an absence of nearly two years. The 
conclusion of the definitive treaty of Paris had 
been announced a few days before, so that the 
emperor had now leisure to devote his atten- 
tion to the internal affairs of his empire. 

Though nothing occurred to call for the di- 
rect interference of Russia, in the affairs of 
other countries, its government did not cease 
to exercise, indirectly, a very great influence, 
over the other continental powers. While the 
family alliances with the courts of Prussia, 
Wiirtemberg, Baden, Weimar, and Brussels, 
insured a vast preponderance in those countries, 
able writers were employed to support its sys- 
tem in Germany. Among the most conspicu- 
ous of these, was Alexander von Stourdza, au- 
thor of the well-known Memoire sur l'etat actuel 
de I'Allemagne, which was supposed to have 
had an official origin. It was first made known 
by the English newspaper, " The Times," the 
proprietor of which had received it from his 
correspondent at Aix-Ia-Chapelle, where only 



CHAPTER xr. 241 

fifty copies were printed, for distribution to the 
ministers assembled at the congress in that city. 
It soon, however, became generally known. 
The total ignorance of the subject of which it 
pretended to treat, the unmerited harshness of 
the inferences against the German universities, 
and the German national spirit in general, drawn 
from some insulated events, excited universal 
indignation against the author. Even in Russia 
itself, Stourdza's opinions were not entirely 
approved. It may, however, be presumed, 
from what passed in the sequel, that they con- 
tributed to inspire the apprehensions of a revo- 
lutionary spirit among the German youth, which 
led to the establishment of the celebrated Cen- 
tral Commission of Enquiry at Mayence, and 
to the restrictions imposed on the liberty of the 
press. The unfavourable opinion entertained 
by the Russian government in particular, of the 
public spirit of Germany, was attributed, in a 
great degree, to the supposed misrepresenta- 
tions of the famous Kotzebue, who was known 
to be the agent of the Russian government, 

R 



242 



CHAPTER XI. 



sent to Weimar, for the purpose of correspond- 
ing with St. Petersburg. The principles sup- 
ported by him in his Literary Journal, unhap- 
pily tended to confirm this prejudice against 
him, which terminated in his assassination, by 
the student Sand, in March, 1819. 

By the treaty of Paris, France had engaged 
not only to pay a military contribution of seven 
hundred millions of francs, but also to liquidate 
all the debts due by the French government to 
foreign public bodies, or individuals. It ap- 
peared, however, from the estimate of the re- 
quisitions, contributions, and plunderings of the 
French in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzer- 
land and Italy, that the total amount was above 
1,321 millions of francs and 1,300 millions in 
confiscations. It soon became evident that it 
would be absolutely impossible for France to 
pay this immense sum, without absolute ruin. 
The first step taken by the allied sovereigns, 
to afford some relief, was to withdraw in 1817, 
a fifth part of the army of occupation. The 



CHAPTER xr. 243 

next was to limit the payment to be made by 
France, in liquidation of the debts, to a certain 
sum, which, by the judicious exertion of all its 
means, it might be able to discharge. To obtain 
this object, the French exerted all their skill 
in negociation, and were so fortunate, as to suc- 
ceed with England and Russia. The Emperor 
Alexander wrote to the King of Prussia bn the 
30th of October, 1817, a letter iri which lie 
stated his reasons for inclining to grant this 
indulgence to France. In a letter of the same 
date, to the Duke of Wellington, he calls upon 
his grace, as being perfectly well acquainted 
with the subject, to give it his serious atten- 
tion. The result of all these proceedings was 
a new convention, April 23rd, 1818, by which 
the sum to be paid was fixed at 320,300,000 
francs. 

On the 27th of March, Alexander opened, 
in person, the first Polish Diet, at Warsaw, the 
proceedings in which were in every respect 
satisfactory to the nation, which was still farther 

R 2 



244 CHAPTER XT. 

flattered by the respect paid to the remains 
of the celebrated Kosciusko, which the em- 
peror allowed to be removed from Soleure to 
Cracow, and even invited the citizens to erect 
a monument to that hero. After closing the 
diet at Warsaw, the emperor undertook a jour- 
ney to Odessa, the Crimea, and Moscow, to in- 
spect the armies assembled there, and acquaint 
himself with the state of the southern provinces 
of his great empire. In September, this year, the 
Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the King 
of Prussia, met in congress at Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle. Of all that was done or determined at 
this congress, from which great matters had 
been expected, scarcely any thing transpired, 
except that the army of occupation should be 
withdrawn from France by the end of the year ; 
the French government first giving sufficient 
security for the payment of the sums stipulated 
by the last convention. 



245 



CHAPTER XII. 



While Alexander shewed no disposition to 
war and conquest, he sought to exert his influ- 
ence over the rest of Europe, on the principles 
of the holy alliance, and on the religious pacific 
system, founded chiefly by him at the congress 
at Aix-la-Chapelie. In this spirit he endea- 
voured to establish a kind of European di- 
rectory, and to check all the revolutionary 
movements of the people, especially poli- 
tical changes, effected by the armed force. 
The memoir addressed to all the Russian am- 
bassadors, with respect to the affairs of Spain, 
and the answer given by the Russian cabinet 
to the Chevalier Z6a Bermudez, contained the 
maxims of that European policy, laid down 
in the declaration, dated Aix-la-Chapelle, 
November 15th, 1818, chiefly against revolu- 



246 



CHAPTER XII. 



tionary commotions, which might disturb the 
peace of Europe, as the French revolution had 
done. In this spirit, he participated in 1820, in 
the congresses held at Troppau and Laybach, 
concerning the affairs of Italy, and ordered his 
army to march to that country, in order to 
quell the insurrections in Naples and Piedmont, 
which were ascribed to the Carbonari ; but as 
those revolutions were terminated in a short 
time, the Russian troops marched back to their 
own country. 

Since the last demarcation of the frontiers 
between Russia and Turkey, which, with re- 
spect to Bessarabia and the mouth of the 
Danube, had been determined on the 2nd of 
September, 1817, conformably to the demands 
of Russia, fresh differences arose in 1819, be- 
cause the Emperor Alexander, supported by 
treaties, intervened in favour of the fugitive 
Hospodar Karadja, and required satisfaction 
for the insult offered to his flag in the harbour 
of Constantinople. To this was added, in 



CHAPTER XII. 247 

J 820, a violent attack by the Yamacks (soldiers 
who garrisoned the castles at the entrance of 
the Black Sea), on the palace of Baron Stro- 
ganoff, the Russian ambassador. Satisfaction 
was, at length, given for this insult ; but the 
arrangement respecting the accomplishment 
of the treaty of Bucharest was not effected, 
because the Porte insisted on the evacuation of 
the Asiatic frontiers by the Russian troops. 

These differences became much more serious 
in 1821, when the invasion of Moldavia by 
Alexander Ypsilanti, and the insurrection of 
the Greeks, excited, in the highest degree, the 
indignation of the sultan. It was in vain that 
Alexander, in a proclamation from Laybach, 
declared Ypsilanti's proceedings criminal, and 
Russia neuter in the Greek cause. The divan 
imagined that, in the purely diplomatic dispute 
between Russia and the Porte, there was a 
secret connection with the Greek revolution : 
incensed at this, it violated the treaty with 
Russia, with respect to Moldavia and Walla- 



248 CHAPTER XII. 

chia ; it laid an embargo on the Russian ships 
coming from the Black Sea; disregarded the 
remonstrances of the Russian ambassador, who 
opposed with energy the excesses of fanaticism 
against the Greek church and the innocent vic- 
tims of Turkish suspicion ; and, by its insolent 
language, at length induced the Russian am- 
bassador, whose life was in danger, from the 
fury of the populace, to demand his passports. 
Baron StroganofF sailed for Odessa on the 9th 
of August, 1821, and was graciously received 
by the emperor at Witepsk and St. Petersburg. 
Since that time the diplomatic relations of 
Russia with the Porte, have been carried on at 
Constantinople, through the British ambassa- 
dor, Lord Strangford, and the Austrian inter- 
nuncio. After the note, addressed by the Reis- 
effendi directly to the Russian minister, on the 
26th of July, 182 i, a breach seemed inevitable ; 
but the pacific policy of the holy alliance, 
entirely remote from all schemes of conquest, 
alarmed by the military revolutions in Spain, 
Portugal, Naples, and Piedmont, and the spirit 



CHAPTER XII. 249 

of Carbonarism in general, and determined by 
the resolutions at Laybach, completely tri- 
umphed in the Russian cabinet over the friends 
of the independence of the Greeks ; to this 
was added the conviction, that a war between 
Russia and the Porte might easily kindle a 
flame throughout all Europe, and that the 
national and religious contest connected with 
it might awaken a dangerous political frenzy in 
Russia itself. The cabinets of London, Vienna, 
and Paris intervened, to represent the pacific 
sentiments of the emperor, as above all the 
calculations of ambition. 

The foreign political system having taken 
this direction, Count Capo d'Istria, secretary 
of state for foreign affairs, withdrew from office 
in May, 1822, and obtained leave to travel. 
Baron Stroganoff, late ambassador at Constan- 
tinople, did the same. Thus the hopes for- 
merly entertained by the Greeks, of the sup- 
port of Russia, were disappointed. The decla- 
ration of Count Nesselrode, in the note, dated 



250 chapter xir. 

Laybach, 10th May, 1823, « That the political 
views of the emperor were not guided by love 
of war, or by the ambitious thought of exer- 
cising an exclusive influence over the councils 
of other monarchs, or on the nations entrusted 
to them by Providence," seemed now to indi- 
cate the course of the Russian policy ; which, 
however, assumed a more decisive character 
after the return of the emperor from Verona, by 
way of Warsaw, in January, 1822. In conse- 
quence of a circular letter, addressed by Count 
Winzingerode, Wiirtemberg minister of state to 
the Wiirtemberg legations in foreign countries, 
and of some notes of Baron Von Wangenheim, 
minister of Wiirtemberg, in the diet in Febru- 
ary, 1823, occasioned some differences with 
the court of Stuttgard. Austria, Prussia, 
and Russia recalled their ambassadors from 
that city ; and Count Beroldingen, minister of 
Wiirtemberg at St. Petersburg, was appointed 
minister in the room of Count Winzingerode, 
who was dismissed. However, a new family 
alliance between Wiirtemberg and Russia was 



CHAPTER XII. 251 

formed by the marriage of the Grand Duke 
Michael to the Princess Charlotte of Wiirtem- 
berg, the daughter of Prince Paul, who was 
married by the name Helena, on the 20th of 
February, 1824. But the diplomatic relations 
were not renewed till 1825, when the Prince 
of Hohenlohe — Kirchberg, arrived at St. Peters- 
burg in January, 1825, as ambassador of Wiir- 
temberg ; upon which, the privy counsellor 
Anstett, Russian ambassador to the German 
diet, was appointed likewise ambassador to 
Stuttgard. With the same harmony, and in 
conformity to the resolutions adopted at Ve- 
rona, the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian 
courts, acted at Madrid. When the Duke 
d'Angouleme soon after entered Spain, at the 
head of a French army, the Russian merchants 
were commanded to suspend all commercial 
transactions with Spain and Portugal ; and 
Count Boutourlin, aide-de-camp to his imperial 
majesty, repaired to the duke's head-quarters, 
for the purpose of making the campaign, with 
his permission. After the re-establishment of 



252 CHAPTER XII. 

the ancient form of government, in the two 
countries, the emperor conferred the insignia 
of different orders on the princes, generals, and 
officers who had contribute d to it; and, through 
his ambassador at Paris, Count Pozzo di Borgo, 
as also through M. d'Oubril, at Madrid, exercised 
great influence on the system of the restored 
royal government of Spain. 

This intimate connexion with Austria was 
further confirmed in the sequel, by the personal 
interview of the two emperors at Czernowitz, 
6—11 of October 1823; when, the Porte 
having repressed the grievances, respecting 
the navigation, it seemed to have been resolved 
in the conferences between Count Nesselrode 
and Prince Metternich, at Lemberg, in Octo- 
ber, to send a Russian charge d'affaires to Con- 
stantinople. The negociations of Lord Strang- 
ford with the Porte, chiefly related to the evacu- 
ation of the two principalities by the Turkish 
troops, and the restoration of the free navigation 
of the Black Sea. The Porte on the other hand. 



CHAPTER XII. 253 

inits note of the 2nd of October, 1821, had de- 
manded, that Russia should give up Prince 
Suzzo and the rebels, who had taken refuge in its 
territory. They were therefore obliged to leave 
Russia and Poland, where, especially in the 
former, large contributions were collected for 
them, and went through Germany, to a port 
of the Mediterranean. The insolence of the 
barbarians, who showed no want of ability in 
these negociations, made it necessary for Russia, 
to save the political point of honour. It there- 
fore demanded, inits ultimatum, the evacuation 
of the principalities, and the appointment of 
Hospodars, both of which were refused by the 
divan on the 28th February, 1822. It was not 
till the 13th of July, that the Porte resolved to 
appoint new Hospodars, and held out hopes of 
the evacuation; but refused to send a negociator 
to Kaminitz-Podolski, alledging that Russia had 
begun the quarrel, which power might there- 
fore send an ambassador to Constantinople, 
only not on board a ship of war ; it besides 
continued to insist on the evacuation of the 



254 CHAPTER XII. 

Asiatic frontiers. Lord Strangford having laid 
before it in February, 1823, the resolutions of 
the congress at Verona, it declined in its answer, 
every intervention of foreign powers in the af- 
fairs of Greece. The Reis-efTendi, however, in 
his note of the 26th of February, 1823, which 
Lord Strangford transmitted to Count Nessel- 
rode, announced the nomination of Hospodars, 
for Moldavia and Wallachia, as well as the 
speedy evacuation of the two provinces, but 
required at the same time, the restitution of 
the fortresses in Asia, retained by the Russians, 
contrary to the tenour of the treaty of Bucha- 
rest, and the sending of a Russian ambassador 
to Constantinople. Count Nesselrode replied, 
on the 19th of May, that the nomination of the 
Hospodars, without the concurrence of Russia, 
was not legal ; that the conduct of the Turkish 
commanders in the principalities, gave no indi- 
cations of an intention soon to leave them ; that 
the last firman threw greater difficulties in the way 
of the Levant trade than existed before ; lastly, 
that Russia, as the first condition of any recon- 



CHAPTER XII. 



255 



ciliation, expected a satisfactory answer to its 
first remonstrance, respecting the Greek church. 
Meantime, the Porte had already caused seve- 
ral Greek churches to be repaired, and left the 
Greek patriarch and the other clergy in their 
dignities. On the urgent remonstrances of 
Lord Strangford, the Porte, indeed, took off 
the embargo which it had laid upon ships 
under the Russian flag, on the pretext that 
they belonged to the insurgents, and again 
permitted the navigation of the Black Sea ; 
but it dextrously evaded all the other points 
of the Russian note. Thus the negociations 
turned continually in the same circle, when 
Mr. Minziacky arrived in Constantinople, as 
Russian charge" d'affaires. He, therefore, did 
not open his office till March, and then only as 
Russian consul. The Porte now began to 
withdraw its troops from the principalities; 
and, on the 24th of August, 1825, Alexander 
appointed his privy counsellor, M. de Ribeau- 
pierre, ambassador to the Porte. He is not, 
however, rone to his post, for the evacua- 



256 CHAPTER XIT. 

tion of the principalities did not take place till 
the latter end of the year, upon which Mr. 
Minziacky, on the 11th of December, 1824, 
delivered to the Reis-effendi his credentials, as 
charge d'affaires. By this step, the diplomatic 
relations between Russia and the Porte were 
restored. The arrival of the Russian ambassa- 
dor at Constantinople was delayed, because 
the Russian cabinet desired to await the result 
of the campaign of 1825, in order to take fur- 
ther resolutions in concert with the other con- 
tinental powers. With this view, negociations 
were carried on at St. Petersburg, in April, 
1825, with the ambassadors of Austria, France, 
and Prussia. What might have been the final 
result of these conferences, had Alexander 
lived to return to St. Petersburg, must remain 
matter of conjecture. Certain it is, that the 
conduct of the Russian cabinet, with regard to 
the Greeks, has entirely baffled the expecta- 
tions, and defeated the sanguine hopes of those 
who were convinced that, if it had not encou- 
raged the insurrection, it would not fail to 



CHAPTER XII. 261 

- ■ y a 

support it. Perhaps the influence of a prin- 
ciple once adopted^ has never been more 
strongly marked than on this occasion. 

Notorious as the projects of the Russian 
cabinet have always been, since the time of the 
Empress Catharine, who may be said to have 
directly avowed them, when she presented her 
grandson Constantine to the Greek deputies 
as their future sovereign, it was confidently 
believed that on this occasion the Greek revo- 
lution, if not originally fomented by Russian 
influence, would however be supported by the 
cabinet of St. Petersburg. But when nearly 
two years had passed in trifling negociations* 
when the Turks declined to give any satisfac- 
tion, though an army of 250,000 Russians was 
on their frontiers, it became evident, that the 
Emperor Alexander was not disposed to inter- 
fere in favour of the Greeks, and that the Divan 
was well aware of his sentiments in this respect 
A very remarkable article in a German jour- 
nal in 1822, explained, at great length, the 

s 



I 



262 CHAPTER XII. 

motives of the Russian cabinet. It distinctly 
stated that the differences between Russia and 
Turkey were purely of a diplomatic nature, 
that the policy of Russia required the preser- 
vation of peace, because " all the monarchs 
are agreed to maintain the European conven- 
tions concluded at the congress of Vienna." 

Four years perseverance in this system allow 
us to consider the article in question as a com- 
pletely official expression of the policy of Rus- 
sia with regard to the Greeks. The conquest 
of Turkey, the favourite plan of the Russian 
cabinet, from Peter the Great to Catharine, 
has been adjourned, because the Emperor 
Alexander has judged it more advantageous, 
and more glorious, to maintain the precautions 
stipulated by the members of the holy alliance, 
than to gratify the wishes of Christian Europe, 
particularly of his own nation, and probably 
the secret wishes of his heart. The Greek 
nation is the bloody offering, sacrificed by the 
fear of revolution on the altar of Musselman 



CHAPTER XII. 



263 



legitimacy ] and thus from love of peace, and 
regard to the general political system, adopted 
in Europe, he has refrained from profiting by 
the most favourable opportunity, and the most 
just motives, to annihilate the barbarous em- 
pire of the Turks in Europe, and to restore 
the c ountries on the Bosphorus, and the classic 
soil of Greece, to European civilization and 
sociaj order. 

The relations with Great Britain have been 
rather changed since the time that the En- 
glish cabinet, contrary to the system of 
the holy alliance, has recognised the South 
American republics. The mission of Mr. Strat- 
ford Canning to St. Petersburg, in April, 1825, 
related only to the conclusion of a convention 
between Russia and England, respecting the 
north-west coast of America, where the diffe- 
rences between Russia and the United States 
have also been adjusted. 

The relations of Russia with China have 
s 2 



\ 



264 CHAPTER XII. 

remained the same, as they were fixed by the 
treaty of amity, between the two empires 
concluded by Count Wladisslawitsch in 1727, 
on the frontier between Kiachta and the Mon- 
gol town of Urga. By this treaty permission 
was granted for the free residence of a Russian 
mission, consisting of young ecclesiastics, at 
Pekin, for the purpose of learning the language, 
by which means Russia has maintained a con- 
stant intercourse with China. The more intimate 
connection of Russia with Persia is founded 
upon the treaty of peace of the 12th of October, 
1815, (ratified at Iflis the 15th September, 1814) 
by which Russia obtains the cession of import- 
ant provinces, the exclusive privelege of navi- 
gating the Caspian Sea with ships of war, and 
of free trade with all the provinces of Persia, on 
payment for import duty of five per cent, in 
return for which Russia is to lend its aid to 
all the sous of the shach, and not suffer any 
foreign power to interfere in the affairs of 
Persia. Thus Persia is situated with respect 
to Russia, as Poland formerly was. In 1823 



CHAPTER XII. 265 

General Yermoloff chastised and subdued the 
predatory mountaineers of Caucasia. In the 
same year seven khans of the Kirghis and 
Calmucks voluntarily exchanged the supre- 
macy of China for that of Russia. 14 

Having thus brought down our sketch of the 
political history of Russia to the latest period, 
we will now give a general view of the inter- 
nal improvements effected during Alexanders 
eventful reign, and then conclude with an ac- 
count of the last scenes of his life till his 
unexpected and lamented death. 



266 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The important history of Alexander s reign, 
may be divided into three periods. The first, 
which was a time of peace, was entirely dedi- 
cated to the execution of the plans of Peter the 
Great and Catherine II. for the internal admi- 
nistration ; in the second, the wars with France, 
Sweden, Turkey, and Persia, from 1805 to 1814, 
developed the military strength of the empire, 
and the patriotism of the people ; the third, profit- 
ed by the experience, and the fruit of the two 
preceding, to form the plan of realising the ex- 
pression of Peter the Great, a hundred years be- 
fore, in his speech after the victory over the Swe- 
dish fleet, near the Aland Island's 1714, "Na- 
ture has made only one Russia, and it must have 
no rival !" In these three periods, Alexander 
governed with moderation, activity, and indefa- 



CHAPTER XIII. 267 

tigable perseverance, by direct correspondence 
or personal superintendence ; and, at the same 
time, by his unaffected and amiable manners, 
gained the affection and confidence of his peo- 
ple, His activity embraced with judgment 
and zeal, every thing that concerned the wel- 
fare of the empire ; he was capable of enlarged 
views, and the idea of a Christian alliance of 
sovereigns, proceeded from his bosom, which 
was deeply imbued with religious feelings, and 
from a mind open to every great idea. Whether 
this alliance was calculated, even according to 
the first conception of it, to accomplish the 
object proposed, and whether, in the applica- 
tion, it has not deviated from the original in- 
tention, are questions for future consideration. 
The following is an outline of the most import- 
ant particulars of his internal government. 

He has introduced, and placed on a solid 
basis, a system of national education \ he has 
improved the internal administration in all its 
branches; he has encouraged the industry of 



268 CHAPTER XIII. 

the nation at home, and raised the foreign com- 
merce of Russia to a degree of prosperity be- 
fore unknown ; he has brought the military 
establishment to a degree of perfection which 
it had never before attained ; he has developed 
in his people the feelings of unity, of courage, 
and of patriotism, by his own firmness and 
resolution ; lastly, he has elevated Russia to 
the first place, and the centre of political order 
in Europe, and partly in Asia. It may also be 
affirmed, that under Alexander I. Russia has 
not been inferior to any other European state, 
with respect to the refined taste and knowledge 
diffused among the higher classes, and at the 
court, and in the numbers of liberal and en- 
lightened statesmen. The persons about the em- 
peror, were partly Russians and partly Greeks ; 
among the former, General Yermoloff, a man of 
great general information, was his favourite, 
on account of his distinguished merit. Great 
praise is due to Alexander, for his exertions to 
improve the language and literature of the 
Russians. He has founded, or new organised, 



CHAPTER XIII. 



269 



seven universities, namely, at Dorpat, Kasan, 
Charcow, Moscow, Wilna, Warsaw, and St. 
Petersburg, and established 204 gymnasia and 
seminaries, and above 2000 inferior district 
and popular schools, on the Lancasterian sys- 
tem ; he has contributed more than any sove- 
reign in Europe, to the distribution of the Bible, 
in almost all the provinces, by supporting the 
Bible Societies ; a new lyceum has also been 
established at Odessa. By a ukase of 1817, 
great advantages were promised to the Jews 
embracing Christianity. He has given large 
sums towards the printing of important works, 
such as Krusenstern's Voyage round the World, 
and Karamsin's History of Russia ; he has appre- 
ciated, and liberally rewarded scientific merit, 
both at home and abroad. He purchased scarce 
collections, such as Loder's celebrated Anato- 
mical Museum, Forster's Mineralogical Collec- 
tions, and the Cabinet of the Princess Jab Ion - 
owski. He has been equally fortunate and 
liberal, in the acquisition of splendid collections 
of paintings, for instance, that of the Spanish 



27 CHAPTER XIII. 

school, belonging to Mr. Koswelt, a merchant 
of Amsterdam, purchased in 1814, for 200,000 
rubles, and the gallery of Malmaison, the pro- 
perty of the Empress Josephine, in IS 15, for 
960,000 francs. In 1818, he invited Messrs. De- 
mange and Charmoy, two Orientalists, from 
Paris to St. Petersburg, to give instruction in 
the Arabic, Armenian, Persian, and Turkish 
languages. He especially promoted the educa- 
tion of young men of talent, whom he sent 
abroad, to travel at his expense. 

In the furtherance of his beneficent views he 
everywhere endeavoured to release his subjects 
from the subordinate tyranny of their masters, 
the nobles, bojards, &c, without, however, 
using arbitrary means to obtain his object. 
Personal slavery is entirely abolished in Russia, 
and since 1616 also in Esthonia and Courland, 
and every householder or farmer, is the pro- 
prietor of his land, in the estates of the crown. 
In a letter to a nobleman on whom he had 
conferred a patrimonial estate, the emperor 



CHAPTER XIII. 271 

says : " The peasants of Russia are for the 
greater part slaves ; it is unnecessary for me to 
enlarge upon the degradation and misery of 
such a state. I have sworn, therefore, not to 
increase the number of these wretched beings ; 
and have laid it down as a principle, not to 
dispose of peasants as a property. The estate 
is granted to yourself and your posterity, as a 
tenure for life ; which is a tenure differing in 
this point alone from the generality, that the 
peasants cannot be sold, or alienated as beasts 
of burden. You know my motives ; I am con- 
vinced you would act in the same manner, 
were you in my place." 

A nobleman in the government of Woronesk 
had bought six thousand peasants of Prince 
Trubeczkoi, and at the instance of Alexander 
offered them their freedom, on condition of 
their making good the purchase money ; which 
they did most joyfully, and built a church, to 
which they gave the name of their benefactor. 



272 CHAPTER XIII. 

Desirous of securing to his people the main- 
tenance of their rights, by a new code, he 
founded a school for the study of the law, and 
among other judicious regulations, determined 
that in criminal causes, sentence of death 
could not be pronounced, unless the judges 
were unanimous. The torture was abolished 
in 1801 as a disgrace to humanity. Lastly, he 
checked by wise laws the abuses of power, in 
governors of provinces. The privilege of the 
nobles, that their hereditary estates could not 
in any case be sequestrated as punishment 
for a crime, was extended to all his subjects. 
The measures adopted by Alexander for im- 
proving the manufactures and commerce of his 
empire, were still more efficacious ; for exam- 
ple, the improvements in the currency, since 
the establishment of a sinking fund; the impe- 
rial treasury bank, founded 19th May, 1817; 
the establishment of annual fairs at Nischnei, 
Novgorod and Warsaw in 1817. 



CHAPTER XIII. 273 

In general the state of the manufactures has 
been extremely improved since J 804. This is 
particularly the case with the woollen manu- 
factures, so that they are now able to supply 
cloth for the army, and all the government 
establishments which used formerly to be fur- 
nished by England. 

Since the congress of Aix la-Chapelle, 
Russia has found means, in its pacific policy, 
not only to confirm its influential position in 
the confederation of the European states, but 
likewise so to order and consolidate the basis 
of its political strength, internal economy and 
military system, that, being constantly pre- 
pared for war, it can, in case of need, carry it 
on with energy, without foreign aid, and with- 
out exhausting itself. The history of Russia, 
during the last seven years, relates therefore, 
in part, to the resumption of the plans for the 
improvement of the internal administration 
which had been suspended during war, partly 
to the application and farther development of 



274 CHAPTER XIII. 

the system of foreign policy, founded upon the 
holy alliance, and the declaration of the con- 
gress of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

In order to animate, by political union, the 
vast assemblage of countries and nations com- 
posing the greatest empire in the world, 
to concentrate its immense powers, and to 
apply them with certainty and facility, the 
forms of the administration, simple as those of 
ancient Rome — were more and more closely 
united with the centre of the government. All 
the activity of the local authorities, in the 
twelve general governments formed in 1823, to 
each of which four governments are subordi- 
nate, is directed and observed, under the im- 
mediate superintendence of the emperor, by 
the council of the empire, of which Prince 
Lapuchin is president ; and which is intimately 
connected with the directing senate, with the 
emperor as president ; the directing synod and 
the ministers of state. The office of minister 
of police was abolished in 1819, and the direc- 



CHAPTER XIII. 275 

tion of the police was united with the depart- 
ment of the ministry of the interior, as also the 
department of manufactures and internal com- 
merce with the department of finances. Among 
the provinces, Siberia was formed in 1822 into 
two grand divisions, the eastern and western, 
each of which has its separate administration, 
the former containing two, and the latter three 
provinces. The thinly peopled Caucasia was 
formed into a province, and Stawropol made 
the seat of government, instead of Georgiewsk 
(1824). The management of affairs in the cen- 
tral point of the government, has been greatly 
simplified by the new organization of the 
chancery of the empire, proposed by the 
four presidents of the council of the empire, 
and was confirmed by the emperor in March, 
1825. This chancery consists of the secretary 
of the empire, secretaries of state, twelve as- 
sistant secretaries, &c. The emperor himself 
paid great attention to many parts of the supe- 
rior administration. Thus, on his journies to 
the most remote parts of the empire, to Lap- 



I 



276 CHAPTER XIII. 

land, 1819 ; to the military colonies, and to the 
south-western boundaries, to inspect the armies 
in ,1823; to Orenburg in the Kirghis Steppe, in 
1824; to Warsaw in 1818, 3 820, 1823, and 1825, 
he examined the most important objects of the 
provincial administration. No sovereign of 
Russia, not even Peter the Great himself, ever 
made such long and frequent journies. In 
general, wherever there was an opportunity, 
Alexander exerted a direct and powerful influ- 
ence. This was the case, in the great misfor- 
tune that befel St. Petersburg, by a terrible 
inundation of the Neva, on the 19th of No- 
vember, 1824. 

A religious spirit has been spread from him, 
among the higher classes of the capital, which 
is as different from the brilliant ostentation of 
former times, as from the extravagant mys- 
ticism which, even before the death of Madame 
Von Kriidener, on the 13th of December, 1824, 
in the Crimea, gained no ground in St. Peters- 
burg. With this spirit of pious humility is 



CHAPTER XIII, 273 

combined a strict and most anxious attention 
to every thing that might be injurious to the 
existing order in the state and church ; and 
strictness is certainly necessary to promote the 
advance of justice, probity, order, and dili- 
gence, in the administration of the Russian 
state. In this view, the ukase of the 26th of 
January, 1822, is very remarkable. By this 
ukase, a great number of civil officers (678) in 
Siberia, who had been guilty of many illegal 
proceedings, under the Governor-General Pes- 
tel, were removed, and punished for usury and 
embezzlement. Among them were the go- 
vernor-general and two governors. 

Agriculture has made great progress during 
the last seven years. The peasant, in general, 
has obtained legal protection against arbitrary 
power and oppression. The great work of the 
abolition of vassallage has succeeded in the 
Baltic provinces. It was abolished by the 
nobility of Courland, in 1818; and the nobles 
of Livonia decreed, in 1819, its gradual aboli- 

T 



274 CHAPTER XIII. 

tion; so that, by 1826, all the Livonian peasants 
should be free ; and all born after the publica- 
tion of the ordinance of 1819, to be free from 
their birth. When the deputation of Livonian 
nobility asked the emperor to confirm this new 
constitution, he replied, " You have acted in 
the spirit of the age, when only liberal senti- 
ments can serve as a foundation for the happiness 
of nations. 3 ' In 1823, an ukase prohibited the 
sale of vassals without the land to which they 
belonged. There are no vassals in the military 
colonies. The plan of founding colonies of 
foreign emigrants, for instance, of the Wiirtem- 
burghers in Georgia, since 1817, has succeeded 
in the provinces of southern Russia, in Cau- 
casia, and Bessarabia. The villages, founded in 
the latter country, have received their names 
from the victories of the Russians, and are 
called, for instance, Kulm, La Fere Champe- 
noise, Brienne, Leipzig, Paris, Arcis, &c. The 
committee of management, formed at Cherson, 
for colonists in southern Russia, was particu- 
larly active. The spirit of emigration from 



CHAPTER XIII. 275 

Germany and Switzerland to Russia, increased 
so much, that, in 1819, the delivery of pass- 
ports to emigrants was necessarily restricted. 
Besides this, the government assigned unoccu- 
pied crown lands, in the southern governments, 
to soldiers of good character, who were to cul- 
tivate them. Great attention was paid to the 
agricultural improvement of Siberia ; with this 
view, an ukase, published in June, 1822, al- 
lowed all crown vassals in the more barren 
governments to settle in the fertile parts of 
southern Siberia. It is well known how much 
has been done to accustom the Jews to agri- 
cultural and mechanical professions. Near 
Nikolajew, in the government of Cherson, is a 
village inhabited entirely by Jews, who culti- 
vate their fields very diligently and well, and 
have among them skilful mechanics of all des- 
criptions. The agricultural society, founded 
at Moscow, in 1819, has also exerted itself 
with success, for the improvement of agricul- 
ture ; having established a school, on an admi- 
rable plan, in which four hundred farmers' sons 
t 2 



276 CHAPTER XIII. 

receive instruction in the theory and practice 
of agriculture. The growing of corn is, indeed, 
not so profitable to the landowners as it used 
to be, from the want of a market ; but they 
have lately turned their attention to the breed- 
ing of sheep, which is daily becoming more 
and more advantageous. So far back as 1820, 
the number of sheep in the Russian empire 
was estimated at sixty millions, and the wool 
exported from Odessa was considered as equal 
to the best Spanish. In 1825, wool fairs were 
held in nine of the provincial towns, and all 
the establishments of the crown, as well as the 
army, use only cloth and woollens of Russian 
manufacture. 

Great advantages are expected from the cul- 
tivation of a plant, polygonum minus, disco- 
vered in the Ukraine, in 1824, on which there 
are insects, coccus polonorum, resembling the 
cochineal insect, from which the most beauti- 
ful crimson may be extracted. Of still greater 
importance was the discovery of gold mines 



CHAPTER XIII. 277 

and platina, ill 1821 and 1823, in the Ural 
mountains, where there is an unexplored and 
inexhaustible field for the improvement of mi- 
neralogy. Accordingly, in April, 1825, a 
learned society was established for the pro- 
motion of mineralogy in Russia, which intends 
to publish a mineralogical journal ; and, for 
this purpose, corresponds with mineralogical 
societies founded in each mining district. The 
emperor subscribed five thousand rubles an- 
nually, in support of this society. Several 
productive salt springs have already been dis- 
covered in Lithuania. Lastly, the cultivation 
of the vine has lately been introduced into 
Siberia; and, in 1824, the first successful at- 
tempts were made in the government of Oren- 
burg, at the foot of the Ural mountains. All 
this visibly tends to promote the comforts of 
the inferior classes of the community. The 
population increases annually, and, including 
, Poland and Finland, is estimated at fifty-four 
millions of souls. Above six millions of citi- 
zens, who live in eighteen hundred towns, to- 



278 CHAPTER XI II. 

get her with the soldiers discharged from the 
army, at the expiration of their service, form 
the stamina of an independent third estate. 
With the progressive improvement of agricul- 
ture, the restoration of what the war had 
destroyed is proceeding rapidly. Thus, Mos- 
cow has risen from its ashes, built in a more 
commodious and splendid manner than before 
the great catastrophe, which seemed to have 
for ever destroyed it, 

A second object of the internal economy of 
the state, is the education of the people, to 
which the government directs its incessant 
attention, partly by keeping off, and rejecting 
everything foreign, which it considers as dan- 
gerous, and partly by extending and improv^ 
ing, the internal establishments for education. 
This department of the administration, which, 
since 1817, has been united with that of eccle- 
siastical affairs, has founded, besides the uni- 
versities, gymnasia and district schools, a great 
number of institutions for special purposes, for 



CHAPTER XIII. 



279 



instance, a great many agricultural schools, a 
gymnasium at Odessa for young Greeks, and a 
school at St. Petersburg, for the study of the 
oriental languages. A new and magnificent 
observatory has been erected at Nikolajef, on 
the Black Sea, and another at Moscow, Not- 
withstanding the almost unlimited religious 
toleration which prevails in Russia, it was found 
necessary to adopt rigorous measures against 
the Jesuits, who were banished from the empire, 
by a decree of the 25th of March, 1820, chiefly 
on account of their illegal attempts at making 
proselytes. Extraordinary precautions were 
taken against revolutionary intrigues, and 
by an ukase of the 12th August, 1822, all 
secret societies were prohibited, and all the 
lodges of free-masons throughout the empire 
were shut up. For the same reason, and on 
account of a suspicious correspondence, the 
governor general, in the German provinces of 
the empire, abolished the missionary societies, 
but a report that dangerous intrigues had taken 
place in some of the corps of the army, was po- 



280 CHAPTER XIII. 

sitively contradicted by authority. Still greater 
rigour has been exercised by the police since 
1823, towards every thing immoral, irreligious, 
and revolutionary. An ukase of November 1824, 
directed Admiral Schischkof to be especially 
vigilant with regard to religious writings. The 
emperor also authorised the governors of the 
Baltic provinces, to subject all the national 
and foreign newspapers and journals, circu- 
lated there, to a censorship. The academies 
were placed under very strict superintendence. 
In 1821 four professors in the university of 
Petersburg were called to account for the con- 
tents of their lectures, and some occurrences at 
Wilna, in 1823, led to still farther restrictions. 
The regulations for the importation of foreign 
books, are extremely strict and onerous. Ano- 
ther measure affected private instruction ; to 
prevent incompetent teachers and adventurers 
from being employed in families, notice was 
given that such persons who could not produce 
a certificate of their qualifications, should be 
immediately discharged, otherwise the families 



CHAPTER XIII. 281 

who retained them, should pay a fine of a hun- 
dred rubles. 

The great work of legislation has been pro- 
gressively advancing ; many improvements have 
been made, particularly in the infliction of 
corporal punishment. Thus the practice of 
branding criminals, after the infliction of the 
knout, was totally abolished, in order, says the 
ukase, "that the reformed criminal may return 
to civil society, without being prevented by 
the mark from making himself respected." 
Meantime, according to the official accounts, 
both the internal and foreign commerce 
of the empire, has increased in an extra- 
ordinary degree, and the measures taken to 
consolidate the public credit, and introduce a 
good system for the reduction of the debt, 
appear to have been eminently successful. 

Of all the branches of the Russian adminis- 
tration, none has been brought to a greater 
degree of perfection, than the army. The 



282 CHAPTER XIII. 

most important institutions are the military 
colonies founded in ] 819, and the subsequent 
years, with which Europe was first made ac- 
quainted by Dr. Lyall's interesting essay. 

Co-operating with this activity of the govern- 
ment in the internal administration, the public 
spirit of many noble and wealthy individuals, 
deserves mention. Among these, Count Ro- 
man z off, chancellor of the empire, is preemi- 
nent. The emperor everywhere set the exam- 
pie : to enumerate all the instances would be 
impossible, but we will mention a few. Thus, 
in 1823, he assigned 600,000 rubles for the 
establishment of baths upon the Caucasus. He 
liberally encouraged the celebrated Karamsin 
in his publication of the history of Russia. He 
lately gave 6,000 rubles to Mr. Glinke, to de- 
fray the expence of printing his Russian his- 
tory, and a separate present of 3000 rubies. 
Commodore Krusenstern is now publishing by 
his order, and at his cost, in Russian and French, 
an atlas of the Pacific Ocean, and a collection 



CHAPTER XIII. 283 

of hydrographical memoirs. His reign is the 
first in which the Russians have attempted a 
voyage of discovery, and the expeditions of 
Krusenstern, Golownin, Kotzebue, and Belling- 
hausen round the world, have contributed 
valuable additions to our nautical and geogra- 
phical knowledge; and the travels in the interior 
of Asia are replete with valuable information. 

Our sketch of the state of Russia under the 
late emperor being now brought down to the 
most recent period, we have to give an account 
of the few last months of his life. Alexander 
who had enjoyed during the summer, the com- 
pany of his sister, the hereditary Grand Duchess 
of Weimar, and her consort, and of the Prince 
and Princess of Orange, resolved to make the 
journey of the southern provinces of the empire* 
and particularly to review the armies in Vol- 
hynia Podolia, and perhaps in Bessarabia. Ano- 
ther object was to visit the Crimea, especially 
the town of Taganrog, which, next to Odessa, is 
the most flourishing sea-port in southernRussia. 



284 CHAPTER XIII. 

This town being situated in a very agreeable 
climate, 47° 12' north latitude, it was thought 
a few weeks residence there might contribute 
to restore the health of the Empress Elizabeth. 
In pursuance of this plan her majesty set out 
from St. Petersburg, on the 15th of September, 
attended by Prince Wolkonsky, and her phy- 
sician, Dr. Stoffregen, with a very small suite. 
She travelled by moderate stages, so as to reach 
Taganrog on the 6th of October, where the 
emperor, who left St. Petersburg on the 13th 
of September, expected to arrive in time to 
receive her. From the accounts of the em- 
press's progress it appeared that the journey 
had produced a visible improvement in her 
health. The emperor, in the course of his jour- 
ney, made no considerable stay anywhere, but 
hastened to Taganrog, where he arrived on the 
25th of September, at ten o'cock at night. 
On the two following days he inspected all the 
establishments, with the good situation of which 
he expressed himself much satisfied, and espe- 
cially with the Lazaretto. Alexander signi- 



CHAPTER XIII. 285 

lied his intention to have this edifice enlarged 
and built of stone. The harbour likewise to 
be improved for the more convenient landing 
of goods. On the 29th of September, Major 
General Ilowaisky, Hetman of the Cossacks, 
arrived from Neutscherkask, and dined with the 
emperor. The empress had found the journey 
very agreeable, and Taganrog pleased her ex- 
tremely, the air being mild and salutary, and 
both their majesties daily made excursions in 
the environs, as well on foot as on horseback. 

Taganrog is situated on the cliff of a very 
high promontory, commanding an extensive 
prospect of the Sea of Azof, and all the Eu- 
ropean coasts to the mouth of the Don ; Azof 
itself is visible from the heights of the citadel 
in fine weather. It was formerly a very consi- 
derable town, containing 70,000 inhabitants, but 
in consequence of a capitulation made with the 
Turks, the original city was entirely razed. Its 
revival may be attributed to the establishment 
of the Armenian colony at Nacktshivan. When 
Dr. Clarke visited it, all the best houses were 



I: 



286 



CHAPTER XIII. 



in the suburbs. At present the town is neatly 
built ; the streets are very broad and regular, 
but not paved. The houses are built both of 
stone and wood, and tastefully painted; some 
of them are handsome and even splendid. 
Among the edifices most worthy of remark are 
the cathedral, two Greek or Russian, and one 
catholic church, and the bazaars. So far 
back as 1820, Taganrog contained 2000 edifices, 
among which there were on the exchange 
170 magazines for the reception of goods, the 
erection of which cost near two millions of 
rubles. This is a sufficient proof of the flour- 
ishing state of the commerce which has 
been increasing every year. There would 
not be any situation in the south of Russia 
more favourable for commerce, were it not 
for the shallowness of the water, which is such, 
that vessels drawing from eight to ten feet 
water, cannot approach nearer to the town than 
ten miles. Ships from the Black Sea, find here, 
ready for embarkation, all the produce of Si- 
beria, with the caviare, and other commodities 
of Astracan; whereas, at Cherson and Odessa, 



CHAPTER XIII. 287 

they are often obliged to wait long for a cargo. 
But it is only during a few months in the year 
that trade can be carried on, in winter the sea 
is frozen over, chiefly in consequence of the 
drift ice, but is often broken up by storms. 
From December to March, the surface of the 
sea from the mouth of the Don to Taganrog, is 
covered with such solid ice, that sledges pass 
over it in safety to Azof and Tscherksk. As 
soon as the first ships make their appearance 
from the Black sea, the waggons begin to ar- 
rive from the interior. The vessels are subject 
to quarantine, during all which time the cara- 
vans continue to increase, and before the end 
of the quarantine, says Dr. Clarke, not less than 
6000 waggons occupy all the plains below the 
town ; of this number 3000 arrive annually from 
the Ukraine. 

There are many gardens in the town, among 
which is a very large one, open to the public. 
There is an abundance of fruit ; good grapes, 
for instance, the best Muscatelles, are ex- 



288 CHAPTER XIII. 

tremely cheap, costing only thirty copecks in 
copper, per pound. Foreign fruit is scarce, in- 
different, and dear, for which reason skilful 
gardeners have lately been sent from St. Peters- 
burg to erect hot-houses. The country around 
Taganrog, on account of the cooling sea breezes, 
is one of the most temperate and healthy in 
Russia. In autumn, winter, and spring, thick 
fogs, mists, and storms, come from the Sea of 
Azof. The fogs collect chiefly about the mouth 
of the Don, but do not extend above twenty 
miles inland. In some winters, the snow is 
pretty deep, and in others, scarcely any falls. 
The environs are so fertile, that wheat may bt 
sown upon new unmanured land, four or five 
years successively, and yields to 20, 30, and in 
good seasons, 40 fold. All kinds of fruit trees, 
grow with great rapidity, and produce excel- 
lent fruit, without grafting, especially apricots, 
peaches, apples, and cherries. Mulberry trees 
also thrive well. The sea winds are unfavour- 
able to the cultivation of the vine, and there is 
a great want of wood. In the year 1823, Ta- 



CHAPTER XIII. 289 

ganrog contained about 14,000 inhabitants, 
chiefly Greeks. 

The extensive and fruitful Steppes, which 
formerly served only as pastures and meadows, 
have been gradually peopled and cultivated, in 
the space of forty years, and chiefly sown with 
wheat. The Steppe has assumed an entirely 
new aspect, villages and country houses have 
been built, the meadows converted into rich 
corn land, which, being situated near the port, 
the inhabitants have a great advantage over 
those of more remote governments, who must 
send their produce to Taganrog, from a consi- 
derable distance. During the season of the 
navigation, the neighbouring farmers send pro- 
visions of all kinds, cattle and poultry, to 
Taganrog, and supply the crews of foreign ves- 
sels at a much cheaper rate than any other 
port. A person travelling in autumn through 
the Steppes from Poltawa, by Novomoskowsk, 
Bachmut, and the country on the Don, to Ta- 
ganrog, cannot fail to be struck with the nu- 
ll 



290 CHAPTER XIII. 

merous herds of buffalos, oxen, cows, and sheep. 
In that part of the country which is now arable, 
the quantities of corn of different kinds in the 
villages and fields, afford a sight which is hardly 
to be met with in other parts of Russia. It is 
true that there is no shady tree to refresh the 
traveller on his journey. The government has 
indeed lately ordered trees to be planted along 
the high roads, but at present there is nothing- 
meets his eye in these boundless plains, but 
dams thrown up in various places, where, ac- 
cording to the accounts of the inhabitants, the 
temples of idolatrous Tartars formerly stood. 
The images found in them are set up on both 
sides of the road, to serve as guides in the snow. 
The stone idols are of very rude workmanship. 
In some places there are tumuli, and remains 
of old fortifications, but no natural hills nor 
woods. 

On the 24th of October the emperor arrived 
at Novo Tscherkask, having been received two 
miles from the town, by Lieutenant General 



CHAPTER XIII. 291 

Uowaisky, and a great number of officers of 
distinction. The emperor had first alighted at 
the country house of Count Platof, where he 
was received by Adjutant General Czernitschef. 
Having changed his dress, he mounted a 
Cossack horse, splendidly caparisoned, and 
rode to meet the Hetman, who advanced some 
hundred paces before his suite, welcomed his 
sovereign, and presented the general report of 
the state of the corps under his command. The 
emperor then rode up to the suite, whom he 
saluted in the most affable manner, and pro- 
ceeded with them to the cathedral ; the way 
to which was crowded on both sides with the 
population of the neighbouring villages, who 
greeted his majesty with joyful acclamations ; 
the women and girls strewing garlands of 
flowers in the way. At the door of the cathe- 
dral he was received by the principal clergy, 
and after divine service, he proceeded to the 
house of the hetman, before which the honour- 
able marks of distinction and favour granted to 
the brave Cossacks for their numerous services, 

u 2 



292 CHAPTER XIII. 

were placed in two lines, within which his ma- 
jesty was welcomed by the officers of the Chan- 
cery of the Don, which is the supreme tribunal 
of this province. On the steps, according to 
the universal custom in Russia, the hetmans of 
districts, and the chief elders, offered his ma- 
jesty bread and salt. In the court of the het- 
man's house stood a guard of honour of one 
hundred and sixty-five Cossacks, with their 
colours, to some of whom the emperor spoke 
with great kindness. 

Meantime, the house was surrounded by 
crowds of people, eager to catch a sight of their 
beloved sovereign, and their joy was boundless^ 
when the emperor shewed himself in the bal- 
cony. On the morning of the 25th, the clergy, 
the general and staff- officers, had an audience 
of his majesty; after which, accompanied by 
the hetman, and the principal officers, he visited 
all the public establishments. He dined with 
the hetman, and in the evening, honoured with 
his presence, a ball given by the hetman, with 



CHAPTER XIII. 293 

whose lady he danced the first polonaise. The 
26th, being the birth-day of her majesty the 
empress mother, the emperor went early in 
the morning to attend divine service in the ca- 
thedral. On his return, the whole way to the 
he t man's house was crowded with people. The 
travelling carriages were ready, and all re- 
gretted the departure of their beloved monarch, 
whom they had seen for so short a time. The 
emperor returned by way of Old Tscherkask 
to Azof, and arrived at Taganrog, on the 27th 
of October. 

On the 1st of November, the emperor set 
out on a second journey in the Crimea. He 
took the way by Mariopol, Perekop, Symphe- 
ropol, Baktschisaray, and Eupatoria. The 
weather, at this time, was remarkably fine. 
After a few days' rain, the autumn was so mild 
at the latter end of October, even for Tagan- 
rog, that, on the 28th and the following days, 
the thermometer of Reaumur was at 16° in the 
shade. The 31st of October, Alexander ad- 



294 CHAPTER XIII. 

dressed an ukase to the minister of finance, to 
the following effect : " In order to adopt all 
possible means for the advantage of the har- 
bour of this town, which is so important to the 
inland trade of Russia, we order the tenth part 
of all the duties of customs at Taganrog, to 
the amount of not more than one million annu- 
ally, to be retained for the improvement of the 
port, and for the erection of the buildings ne- 
cessary for the town, on a scale suitable to the 
extent of its commerce." 

On the 5th, his majesty arrived at Sym- 
pheropol, where he was received by the civil 
governor of Taurida, Mr. Narischkin. He 
alighted at the house of the governor-general ; 
the whole town was illuminated in the evening. 
On the Gth, in the morning, he left Symphe- 
ropol, by the new road which has been made 
during the summer, to the south coast of 
the peninsula, where he stopped at the beau- 
tiful country seat Ursuf, belonging to the 
Governor General Count WoronzofT, where he 



CHAPTER XIII. 295 

remained till the 7th. Ursuf, an estate of the 
crown, is the constant residence of the go- 
vernor-general of the province of New Russia; 
and was, therefore, formerly in the possession 
of the late Duke of Richelieu, whose wise 
paternal government will render his name im- 
mortal in these parts. On the following day, 
accompanied by Count WoronzofF, he went to 
Aluschta, a Tartar village, situated close to the 
sea coast, which has now obtained the privi- 
leges of a town, and appears to be increasing 
in prosperity, on account of the numerous visi- 
tors who frequent it for sea bathing. The em- 
peror also visited, between Ursuf and Aluschta, 
the garden of Nikita, 12 belonging to the govern- 
ment ; and also the estate, which he lately pur- 
chased, of Count Kuschelew Besborodko, in 
Orianda. On the 9th, early in the morning, 
the emperor left Alupka and the south coast of 
the Crimea, passing through the defile, called 
the Ladder. His carriages had been left be- 
hind, near Sympheropol, and continued his 
journey to the south coast on horseback. Having 



296 CHAPTER XIII. 

joined his carriages again in the village of 
Baidari, in the celebrated valley of that name ; 
he then visited Baiaclawa, breakfasted with 
Colonel Revelioti, and arrived in the night of 
the 9th, at Sebastopol, where he was waited 
upon by Vice-Admiral Greig, commander-in- 
chief of the fleet in the Black Sea. 

On his return through the Crimea, the em- 
peror was so struck, in the environs of Se- 
bastopol, with the luxuriance and beauty of 
the southern vegetation, and the picturesque 
scenery, that he said to General Diebitsch and 
Count Woronzoff, who accompanied him, " If 
I should one day retire from the cares of go- 
vernment, I should wish to pass my old age in 
this spot." Full of these thoughts, he went 
into a neighbouring monastery, where he re- 
mained in devout contemplation for above an 
hour. When he returned to his company, he 
complained of indisposition and chilliness. The 
fever, which proved an intermittent, increased 
in violence, and he found it necessary to return 



CHAPTER XIII. 297 

to Taganrog, to the Empress Elizabeth. As 
his constitution was vigorous, there would 
have been no apprehensions of danger, had 
timely relief been given ; but the emperor 
thought too slightly of his complaint, and, 
during the first fortnight, refused to take any 
medicine. When he, at length, yielded to the 
earnest entreaties of his family, and the pious 
remonstrances of the archimandrite, it was too 
late. His disorder grew rapidly worse, but he 
remained perfectly sensible to the last moments 
in which he declared his will. The Empress 
Elizabeth paid the most affectionate attention 
to her beloved consort, and, for five days and 
nights, did not quit his bed-side. The last 
words the emperor spoke were — " Ah le beau 
jour!" The window-curtains had been drawn 
back, and the bright autumnal sun shed its 
rays into the chamber. When he had expired 
in her arms, she summoned up resolution to 
close his eyes, and cross his arms over his 
breast. After this effort she fainted. Her 
affliction was boundless ; and, for several days, 



298 CHAPTER XIII. 

she paid no regard to the advice of her at- 
tendants, and even of her confidential phy- 
sician Dr. Stoffregen. The following letters, 
which she wrote to the Empress Maria, will be 
read with much interest, as they present the 
simple expressions of profound grief and Chris- 
tian resignation. 

" Taganrog, Nov. 18, (O. S.) 1825. 

" Dear Mother, 

" I was not in a state to write to you 
by the courier of yesterday. To-day, a thou- 
sand and a thousand thanks to the Supreme 
Being, there is decidedly a very great im- 
provement in the health of the emperor — of 
that angel of benevolence, in the midst of his 
sufferings. For whom should God manifest 
his infinite mercy, if not for him ? Oh ! my 
God, what moments of affliction have I passed ; 
and you, dear mother, I can picture to myself 
your uneasiness. You receive the bulletins. 
You have therefore seen to what a state we 



CHAPTER XIII. 299 

were yesterday reduced, and still more last 
night ; but Wylie (an English physician), to- 
day, says himself, that the state of our dear 
patient is satisfactory. He is exceedingly 
weak. Dear mother, I confess to you, that I 
am not myself, and that I can say no more. 
Pray with us— with fifty millions of men, that 
God may deign to complete the cure of our 
well-beloved patient. 

" Elizabeth." 
" November 19, 

" Our angel is gone to heaven, and I- — 
I linger still on earth. Who would have thought 
that I, in my weak state of health, could ever 
have survived him ? Do not you abandon me, 
dear mother, for I am absolutely alone in this 
world. 

" Our dear deceased has resumed his looks 
of benevolence ; his smile proves to me that he 
is happy, and that he gazes on brighter objects 
than exist here below. My only consolation 



300 CHAPTER XIII. 

under this irreparable loss is, that I shall not 
survive him; I hope to be soon reunited to 
him. 

" Elizabeth." 

We add the following from a series of letters 
written from Taganrog, from the 1 0th of Novem- 
ber to the 1st of December, the day of the em- 
peror's death. The first three of the 18th, 2 1st, 
and 24th of November, wholly coincide with the 
preceding statements respecting the origin of the 
disorder, and the slight apprehensions that were 
entertained till a few days after his return from 
the Crimea. When the following letters were 
written, the disorder had assumed a decisive 
character. 

" November 27th. We are in the greatest 
alarm repecting the emperor. The disorder 
has become much worse in the last three days, 
and assumed a very serious and dangerous cha- 
racter. The fever with which he was attacked 
on his journey to the Crimea has turned to a 



CHAPTER XIII. 301 

bilious inflammatory fever. It was very unfortu- 
nate that the emperor, who deceived himself 
respecting his situation, would not use, at the 
very beginning, the remedies prescribed by the 
physicians. He has now consented to do so, 
and the leeches which were applied to-day 
considerably reduced the inflammation for 
some hours, but it afterwards returned with 
increased violence, and, notwithstanding the 
repeated application of a mustard plaster, has 
not been removed. 

" The empress, notwithstanding her deli- 
cate state of health, does not leave her husband 
a moment. May heaven grant her strength to 
support the misfortune with which we are 
threatened !" 

" November 28, half-past nine in the morn- 
ing. The emperor grows worse every hour. 
All proper remedies have been employed with- 
out lessening the disorder, which, since this 
morning, has become a nervous fever. He has 



302 CHAPTER XIII. 

not spoken for this hour or more. The last 
medicines given him have produced no effect, 
and his majesty is therefore in the greatest 
danger." 

" November 29, half-past eight in the morn- 
ing. Our patient has passed a most dreadful 
night. Whenever he attempted to raise him- 
self, he was seized with fainting fits, so that 
the persons about him several times expected 
that the next moment would be his last. At 
six o'clock a blister was applied to his back, 
which restored him to the use of his faculties. 
May heaven grant only one tranquil night, we 
may then have some hopes of escaping the 
misfortune which threatens us. The emperor 
recognized the persons about him, smiled upon 
every one, and even spoke in a pretty loud 
voice to the empress, who bears with astonish- 
ing fortitude, the painful situation in which she 
is placed." 



" November 30, four o'clock in the afternoon . 



CHAPTER XIII. 303 

The ray of hope which we had yesterday has 
vanished like a dream. The fever increased 
yesterday evening in a terrible degree. The 
night was dreadful, and this forenoon very bad. 
Towards noon the patient felt a revival of his 
strength, which continues to this moment. 
Nevertheless, the danger is still very great, 
and we look forward with anxious apprehen- 
sion to what the next night may produce." 

" December 1st— It is passed— This morning, 
at fifty minutes past ten o'clock, the dreadful 
blow was struck! After a mortal agony of 
eleven hours, the Emperor Alexander expired. 

" The empress had not for a moment quitted 
his sick-bed. She has closed his eyes and 
mouth. May God grant her courage and 
strength to support her irreparable loss." 

Whilst these melancholy scenes were pass- 
ing at Taganrog, the empress mother, and 
the other members of the imperial family, 



304 CHAPTER XIII. 

at St. Petersburg, and the inhabitants of that 
city, were agitated by alternate hopes and 
fears. On the 29th of November, in the after- 
noon, a letter was received from the emperor, 
dated the 17th, in which he mentioned that he 
had returned to Taganrog, rather indisposed. 
On the 30th, in the evening, the Grand Duchess 
Helena Pawlowna, consort of the Grand Duke 
Michael, who was then at Warsaw, with the 
Grand Duke Constantine, received a letter 
from the Empress Elizabeth, dated the 21st, 
requesting her to inform the Empress Maria, 
that the emperor was better, and that she did 
not write to her majesty herself, lest it should 
appear that she thought his disorder serious. 
On the 4th of December, a letter from the 
empress dated the 24th, was received, in which 
she mentions that the return of the fever pre- 
vented his majesty from writing, and added, 
that she hoped she would soon be able to write 
upon other subjects. On the 7th of November, 
a courier dispatched from Taganrog, on the 
27th, brought a letter from General Diebitsch, 



CHAPTER XIII. 305 

with the afflicting news that the Emperors dis- 
order, which he stated to be a bilious fever, 
had increased, that the paroxysms had become 
much more violent, and almost uninterrupted, 
since the 25th, and especially on the 26th. 
These critical circumstances, induced the per- 
sons about the Emperor to recommend him 
to have recourse to the Holy Sacrament* 
which he received with the devotion and 
firmness that distinguished his character. 
On the 27th, he had lost , the use of his 
faculties and of speech. While the capital was 
a prey to inexpressible anxiety, a courier, dis- 
patched from Taganrog, on the 29th of Novem- 
ber, at eleven o'clock at night, and who had 
travelled with extraordinary rapidity, arrived 
on the 8th of December, just at the conclusion 
of the prayers in the churches, with a letter 
of the 29th, from the Empress Elizabeth, in 
which she stated, that there was a positive im- 
provement in the situation of the emperor, 
which was confirmed by a private letter from 
Prince Wolkonsky. Sir James Wylie, in the 

x 



t 



306 CHAPTER XIII. 

bulletin of the same day (29th) writes, that by 
the application of external means, they had 
succeeded in rousing Alexander from the state 
of lethargy in which he had been, so that the 
hopes of a happy issue were increased. 

The joy which these favourable accounts 
had spread in the capital and the court, was 
unfortunately of very short duration. A cou- 
rier, who arrived on the 9th, in the morning^ 
brought the melancholy intelligence, that the 
emperor had expired on the 1st of December, 
between ten and eleven in the morning, in 
the arms of his august consort, the Empress 
Elizabeth. 

The empress mother was attending the Te 
T>eum, which was celebrated in consequence of 
the favourable news received the preceding even- 
ing, when the Grand Duke Nicholas, who was 
first made acquainted with the melancholy 
event, caused divine service to be broken off, 
and desired the archimandrite to go with the 



CHAPTER XIII. 307 

crucifix in his hand, and thus to announce to 
her the afflicting intelligence, accompanied by 
the consolations that religion alone can give. 

As soon as the imperial family had, in some' 
degree, recovered the first shock, the Grand 
Duke Nicholas immediately caused all the mi- 
litary on duty in the palace, then the guards, 
the general staff, all the regiments of the gar- 
rison, and all the authorities of the capital, to 
take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor 
Constantine the First, to whom a courier had 
been dispatched from Taganrog, with the ear- 
liest news of the melancholy event which called 
him to the throne. 

The declaration of the renunciation of the 
throne by Constantine, the proclamation of the 
Grand Duke Nicholas, as successor to Alexan- 
der, and the events that afterwards occurred at 
St. Petersburg, are sufficiently known. 

Here then we pause; — anew era begins, and 
x 2 



308 CHAPTER XIII. 

we have only to wish, as we most sincerely do, 
for the benefit of Russia, and of the world, of 
which that empire forms so large a part, that 
the successor of Alexander may continue with 
the same ardour, perseverance, and success, 
his plans for the internal improvement of his 
dominions, and for increasing the prosperity 
and happiness of the many nations who own 
his sway. 



NOTES. 



Note 1. — Page 1. 

The final syllable witsch, sometimes, but improperly, 
written witz, which is added to many Russian proper 
names, means son : Pawlowitsch, therefore, is the son of 
Paul. This designation, which we meet with among many 
nations, originated in the times when the use of hereditary 
family names was not yet introduced. 

Note 2. — Page 1. 

The Russian emperor is the only European sovereign 
who has the title of Autocrat, which indicates his absolute 
power. 

Note 3. — Page 1. 

The expression of " all the Russias" is founded on the 
ancient division of Russia, which comprehended the pro- 
vinces of Great or Black Russia, Little or Red Russia 
and White Russia. 



310 



XOTES. 



Note 4.— Page 71. 

The late General Lloyd who was well acquainted with Rus- 
sia, being asked in the time of Catherine II. whether he did 
not think that Russia possessed a great number of able men, 
replied, " Yes ; but they are exotics, which will produce no 
seed ; but must be replaced as they fall off by fresh supplies 
from more genial climates." When we seethe vast number 
of foreigners even now employed in the military and civil 
service of Russia, may it not be said that this opinion has 
been confirmed to a very great degree. 

Note 5. — Page 99. 

The Prussian army, being composed chiefly of stran- 
gers of different countries, manners, and religion, are 
united only by the strong chain of military discipline : this, 
and a most rigid attention to keep up all the forms and 
discipline established, constitutes a vast and regular ma- 
chine, which, being animated by the vigorous and powerful 
genius of their leader, may be justly accounted one of the 
most respectable armies in Europe ; but should this spring, 
however, languish, but for an instant only, the machine 
itself being composed of such heterogeneous matter, would 
probably fall to pieces, and leave nothing but the traces of 
its ancient glory behind./' — See Lloyd's History of the 
War in Germany, Vol. II. page xxxvii. 



NOTES. 



311 



Note 6. — Page 102. 

We have expressed our opinion of the change in the 
sentiments of Alexander towards Napoleon, without hint- 
ing a suspicion of its sincerity. Our own opinion is, that 
he was sincere. But Count Boutourlin, in his history of 
the campaign of 1812, speaking of the treaty of Tilsit, and 
the hostile spirit shewn towards Russia, in the formation of 
the grand duchy of Warsaw, says, « the Emperor Alexan- 
der could not mistake the spirit of those arrangements : but 
the unfortunate circumstances in which Russia was placed, 
obliged him to put an end to the war at any price. It was 
above all things requisite to gain the time, necessary to 
prepare in a suitable manner for the struggle, which, it was 
very certain, would one day be renewed." Though Count 
Boutourlin, as aid-de-camp to Alexander, ought to be 
well informed, we are unwilling to believe that the emperor 
did not act with perfect good faith on that occasion, and 
subsequently at the congress of Erfurth. 

Note 6*.— Page 102. 

Alexander meant that, in his eyes, the bravest man in 
his empire was the handsomest. He had good reason 
for thinking in this manner. The following anecdote of 
Suwarrow will illustrate this point. On one occasion, 



3]2 NOTES, 

during his campaign in Switzerland, the Russian grenadiers 
formed the vanguard; and, exhausted by fatigue and pri- 
vations, they refused to advance. Before them were some 
steep heights, defended by a considerable corps of French 
troops, to which there was no approach escept by a defile, 
where the Russians feared that they should perish to a 
man. Suwarrow rushed into the midst of the mutineers, 
and, on their reiterated refusal to march, he coolly ordered 
a pit, some feet in length, to be dug, in which he laid him- 
self down before the astonished soldiers, saying, " Since 
you refuse to follow me, I am no longer your general. I 
remain here; this pit will be my grave. Soldiers, cover 
with earth the body of him, who, so many times, led you to 
victory." Moved, even to tears, but electrified by these 
few words, the soldiers swore never to forsake him ; and, 
led by him, rushed into the terrible defile, where a great 
number of them were killed, but the rest forced the pas- 
sage, and opened it to the remains of the army. 



Note 7.— Page 115. 

During the inactivity, to which the main armies of both 
powers were reduced, after the sanguinary battle of Eylau, 
while, however, the French were permitted to pursue un- 
molested, the siege of Dantzig, the inhabitants of the 
north of Germany, who looked forward with the greatest 



NOTES. 313 

anxiety to the result of the contest, used frequently to la- 
ment (when they could do it with safety) that the English 
government did not send some troops to join the Russian 
and Prussian armies in Poland. They fancied that 20,000 
English troops would suffice to turn the scale ; a notion, 
which, whatever might be thought of it, as a compliment 
to the English, was not very flattering to the allies, with 
200,000 men in the field. Had the latter been able to en- 
gage Napoleon, before the surrender of Dantzig set at 
liberty 50,000 veteran troops to join the grand army, the bat- 
tle of Eriedland, would, perhaps, not have been lost by the 
allies. 



Note 8. — Page 128. 



The Grand Duke, though he went to Erfurth, was re- 
ported, at the time, to have been by no means disposed to 
imitate the emperor his brother, in his deference to Napoleon. 
Many stories, indicative of his sentiments, were circulated in 
Germany on the occasion. The following was related to me 
by a gentleman who was in Erfurth, during the whole of the 
congress : — " A grand entertainment being at hand, at which 
all the sovereigns aud princes, and other illustrions persons, 
were either invited by the French emperor, or, at least, ex- 
pected to attend, as a mark of respect to him, the Grand Duke 



314 



NOTES. 



Constantine, expressed a determination not to be present. 
It being apprehended that this might give offence to the 
French emperor, or, at any rate, attract the notice of the 
public, who eagerly watched every motion of the sovereigns ; 
a report was spread, that the Grand Duke was indisposed, 
a report which his imperial highness thought fit to refute, 
by driving about the steets of Erfurth during a great part 
of the day, in an open carriage." 

Note 9.— Page 163. 

This was the opinion of many persons at the time, and 
[ expressed it twelve years ago in an account of the conduct 
of the French at Hamburgh, published 1813. I received 
the intimation from one of the most distinguished officers of 
the French army ; and it is much strengthened by the re- 
cent publication of Count Segur. 

Note 10.— Page 166. 

The most particular account of this temple, which, if 
ever it should be finished, will be the largest in Europe, 
has been given by Dr. Lyall in his travels. 

Note 11.— Page 170. 

Alexander's first care, on arriving at Wilna, was to 
bestow the most flattering rewards on Marshal KutusofT, 



NOTES. 



315 



on whom he had already conferred the glorious title of 
Smolenskoi. The marshal received the order of St. George 
of the first class, a distinction the more honourable, as at 
that time, those who had enjoyed it during the reign of 
Catherine were dead, and since the accession of Paul I. it 
had not been conferred upon any body. 

Note 12.— Page 295. 

Nikita. — An account of the places in the Crimea, visited 
by the emperor on this tour, will be found in the Annual 
Cabinet of Foreign Voyages and Travels for 1826, in the 
article, Journey in Taurida, by Muraview Apostol. 



FIN I S. 



Howlett and Brimmer ; Printers, 
10, Frith Street, Soho. 



< /zm 



I - % A* * 








V *<T.7* A 





HECKMAN IXI 
BINDERY INC. |e| 

NOV 89 

N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 



\3 *o 



8 c5»*^ 



■r O * 



(L 



00023515155 



